


The Handful and The Healer

by mercs4life



Series: Hot Mess AU [1]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: M/M, they defined the relationship :')
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 14:22:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14522529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercs4life/pseuds/mercs4life
Summary: Anders is new EMT at Kirkwall's Lowtown Hospital and has a regular patient. Damien Amell isn't sick or anything; he's just constantly in and out of the ER.





	1. The Fateful Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Anders's age has been changed, JIC anyone is revisiting this and is confused about why it says "updated."

Ch. 1

Anders checked the time. 5:03am. Time to check on his newest patient. His ID said Damien Amell, and he was rushed in with alcohol poisoning. Anders pumped his stomach and got him an IV and, after some pain killers, went to sleep. Anders hadn't had much time to talk to him, but on a Wednesday night, there weren't that many people who needed emergency care. 

Anders picked up the clipboard on the end of Damien's bed and examined his sleeping patient. Damien's face scrunched and he groaned. He blinked, and his eyes opened and - wow. Grey eyes. Anders had never met anyone with grey eyes; the few born with it typically develop some pigment as a toddler. 

Anders was snapped from his train of thought when Damien started coughing. Anders looked over and Damien was sitting upright, hand at his throat. 

"Side effect of the stomach pumping, unfortunately," Anders explained. "It's going to be a little hard for you to talk for a while."

"Heh, no kidding," Damien said. His voice was raspy and hoarse, and it probably hurt to even say that, but he still had a weak smile. 

"How are you feeling? One word answers are fine," Anders added quickly. 

"Hm. Better than yesterday," Damien croaked. "You sure did look surprised when you saw me wake up, doc. Was I that bad?" 

"No - And you can call me Anders. You’re just awake earlier than I expected you’d be." 

Damien’s face broke out in a grin. 

"Heh, thanks. This isn’t my first rodeo, you know.” Then he coughed.

At that, Anders chuckled. His patient was resilient, he’ll give him that much. 

"So, was last night a special occasion?" Anders asked.

Damien's head tilted in confusion. Anders's brows furrowed. Maybe he should rephrase the question? 

"You know... the binge drinking?" Anders motioned to the hospital bed Damien was laying in. 

Damien looked down at the bed and then realization struck. 

"Oh! Hah, no, just a regular Wednesday night," Damien answered hoarsely. "What, are you new here?" 

Anders was completely baffled. How was _he_ the one getting such a I-can't-believe-you-didn't-know-this look from someone binge drinking on a Wednesday night? 

"I, uh ... I just transferred here last week from Fereldan. So yeah, I guess you can say I'm new." 

Damien's face broke out in a grin. "Welcome to Kirkwall! You seem like a handsome, capable doctor. Why do you work at the smallest hospital in Low Town?" 

Anders blinked. Was his patient ... hitting on him? 

Damien's toothy grin really made Anders noticed his well-defined cheekbones, and his white teeth really shone next to his dark skin. Huh. 

"Oh you know, the old story of med school debts, constant failure, and avoiding the problem. Kirkwall's Lowtown seemed a good place to start over." 

Damien's expression darkened as he nodded solemnly. Like he understood where Anders was coming from. 

"Where did you go to medical school?" 

"Oh! Uh, I didn't. My older brother - he just graduated a few years ago." 

"Does he work here?" Anders hadn't seen anyone who looked anything like Damien, but it's possible they just worked opposite shifts. 

"Oh, no, he's one of those fancy doctors at that Amell Hospital in High Town," Damien responded casually. But also like he was surprised Anders didn't know that, either. "He's - oh, he's here." 

Anders turned around and saw a tall man with shoulder length dreads making a beeline straight towards them. And he was tall. 6'4'' maybe? He probably towered over everyone. Broad shouldered, muscular - he was a doctor? That's insane - 

Damien grunted as he threw his legs over the edge of his bed. 

"Hey, you shouldn't be moving yet -" 

"Damien!" 

The man reached them and man, was he tall. And big. And looked incredibly haggard. Bags under his eyes, premature wrinkles. When was the last time this man slept? 

The tired looking man pushed up the sleeves of his button up shirt as he pushed past Anders to examine his brother. 

"Hey Zeke," Damien said as 'Zeke' turned his face back and forth. 

"What's your temperature?," he asked, forgoing a greeting. 

"Haven't had the chance to ask." Damien looked a little amused.

"Blood pressure? Last night's blood-alcohol content?" 

"I'm pretty sure a doctor would know better than I would. Just ask Anders." 

"Damien, please. At least call him 'Doctor'," 'Zeke' said, exasperated. 

"Actually, I'm an EMT," Anders interrupted, finally finding his voice. 

At that Zeke finally turned to him. It just dawned on him that he probably didn't even see him when he rushed to his brother. He looked him up and down, as if he was suddenly judging him. 

"Hello Zeke," Anders began nervously. Damien's eyebrows raised. "I'm Anders. He doesn't have to call me 'doctor'," he added, hand stretched out. "Just my top notch, friendly bedside manner."

"He doesn't have to call you 'doctor'," Zeke agreed, rather coldly. "You aren't one. And it's Ezekiel." 

Ouch. Anders lowered his hand.

"Hey, Zeke take it easy - " Damien hopped off the bed - well, less of a hop and more of a plop. He was almost as tall as his brother! And they both were taller than he was. Anders was already almost 6’ - 

"We're leaving, Damien.” 

As Ezekiel strided past Anders, Anders thought of saying a goodbye - but then thought better of it when he caught a glimpse of Ezekiel’s glower. Damien took two steps after Ezekiel and stopped in front of Anders. 

“Yeah … He doesn’t really like it when people call him ‘Zeke’. Sibling privilege, unfair, I know,” Damien mused, patting Anders’s shoulder. This close, Anders could see small, silver lines on his face, marking old scars.

Then Damien winked. “Don’t worry, Anders, you’ll be seeing plenty of me. So you’ll be able to get to know Ezekiel better too! Works out for everyone.” 

“Hah. Not too often, I hope?” Anders asked. He wouldn’t mind seeing those grey eyes outside the hospital. 

Damien gasped, rather dramatically, and gripped his chest. “Anders! Don’t tell me you’re already tired of me!” 

Anders laughed, but before he could get a response out, Ezekiel called for his brother from down the hallway. Damien said his goodbyes and followed his brother out of the hospital. The pair got stares from nurses, doctors, patients - literally everyone they passed on the way out. Ezekiel was cold, but he very clearly dropped everything as soon as he’d heard about his brother. And his brother, Damien … obviously a wild card. Anders felt like Damien walked away knowing more about him than the other way around. But, as extreme as he seemed, he still felt warm and friendly. What an interesting pair. 

*~*~

A few hours later, Anders was finishing up his paperwork for the day in the hospital lab. He usually tried to stay out of the lab, but it was usually quieter there than anywhere else. And only doctors had offices. His eyes glanced over his patient list and his eyes caught the name _Damien Amell._ Why did ‘Amell’ sound so familiar? 

“Hey, Bethany,” Anders started. Bethany Hawke was a new intern, fresh out of med school, aspiring to be a doctor. Apparently, she’d shown promise, as Chief of Medicine Orsino had pointed her out to Anders several times since he’s been at the hospital. Anders had to admit, Bethany was quick witted, completed all of her paperwork on time, and had excellent bedside manners. He hadn’t heard a single negative thing about her, and she’d been at this hospital for a few months now. 

“Yeah, Anders?” Bethany’s voice rang up from the other side of the desk, behind a stack of papers. The lab wasn’t huge; relatively small for the amount of work they had to get done there, but they had as much equipment as they could fit there. Bethany learned to work around it all pretty quickly, and became pretty adept at stacking what she needed very high. 

“What do you know about the ‘Amell’ family?” 

“Amell?” She popped her head out from behind the stack and looked over at him. Her dark brown curls bounced as she got up and walked over to him. 

“They’re my cousins,” she stated plainly. 

“What?” Anders scanned her hazel eyes, trying to see if she was bluffing - but no, people as good as Bethany didn’t bluff. 

“Yeah, my mom’s sister and her kids. Ezekiel, Damien, and Claire. Ooh, who did you meet?” She peeked over his shoulder at his paperwork. 

“Damien Amell,” Anders answered for her. “And Ezekiel came to pick him up.” 

“Oh you met Damien and Zeke!” Bethany exclaimed. Apparently, ‘Zeke’ was okay for siblings _and_ cousins. Anders wondered if Damien knew. “Yeah, Damien is here a lot. It’s pretty much the only way to get Zeke to leave the hospital.” 

“What hospital? Damien told me he was a doctor, but I don’t remember which one.” 

“Are you kidding?” Bethany looked him up and down, an incredulous tone in her voice. Why did everyone in this family do that to him? “Ezekiel is the chief physician at the Amell Hospital. It’s the biggest and oldest hospital in Kirkwall.” 

Now that was something Anders should have known. Maker, the Amell Hospital was _huge_. And cutthroat. Anders would be lucky to even get an interview. And yet, he did not envy Ezekiel. Even being born into the family, maybe even especially, getting the Chief of Medicine position was not going to be easy. And he still dropped everything to pick up his brother on the other side of town? 

“That’s crazy,” Anders started, barely able to wrap his head around this new information. “Why is Damien so … out of control if he’s the son of _the_ Revka Amell? How is he in and out of a rival hospital on a regular basis? Why is Ezekiel risking his position at the most prestigious hospital in the Free Marches to pick up his brother from a hospital? And why aren’t you working at your cousin’s hospital?” 

Bethany laughed, her brown skin wrinkling at her eyes. Even her laugh was light and airy. 

“Well, Damien has already established with Auntie Rev that he’s not going to be a doctor, and she’s already publicly disowned him. And I would barely call this place a ‘rival hospital.’ Ezekiel spends almost every day of the week in the hospital, doing Auntie Rev’s bidding so he can take over the hospital. So he can spare a day or two to spend with family. And me, I just like helping people. Amell Hospital doctors are a little too … ‘out for themselves’ for me. Except for Zeke, of course,” she added. 

That gave Anders pause. That family was so complex, with so many different pieces to the puzzle. Oh, Maker. What had Anders learned? 

“Why all the questions, hm? Interested in one of them?” Bethany teased. And she didn’t even sound malicious. 

“Huh?” The question caught him off guard. Interested? In whom, exactly? 

“Honestly, nearly everyone here wants to get Zeke, somehow.” Bethany seemed to shudder at the thought. “Don’t feel bad about it, but you’d have a long line of doctors and nurses to get through to get to him.” Another laugh. 

“No, I’m not interested in Ezekiel, I was just - curious. There’s so much more going on than I’d thought.” 

None of that was a lie, really. He just didn’t feel like it was the whole truth for some reason. Not that it mattered; the work he had was more important that this dysfunctional family. 

“That’s fair. They are a bit of a mess.” She grinned a little sheepishly. “Well, I’m gonna finish my lab work, unless you had more questions about my cousins?” 

Anders chuckled. “No, no. Sorry for taking up so much of your time.” 

“No worries!” 

She returned to her side of the desk and disappeared behind the stack of papers. He decided to return to his paperwork, as well. _Damien Amell_. Huh. Well, he’d rather not gonna worry about it right now. If he runs into him again, he’ll consider giving the Amells a second thought. 

*~*~ 

Anders had about a week of normal, adrenaline rushing EMT work before Damien showed up again. 

Over the weekend, the work picked up of course; bar fights, car accidents, self-repair mishaps. Nothing out of the ordinary for Kirkwall. He’d spent a few days recuperating at home with his new kitten, Ser-Pounce-A-Lot, and tending to the herb garden he’d set up in his kitchen. He was renting a small apartment in Lowtown, the most reasonable space he could think of given his workplace and his salary, and there wasn’t much room for greenery. However, modern inventions had created things like hanging pot racks and window sills, so Anders made do with what he had. 

Then, Thursday night around 7:50pm, Anders was paged to go down to the ER to patch up a street market brawl patient. Apparently, the patient was jumped by four other men, all of whom were in surgery or getting stitches, but _they_ just needed a few wounds sewed up. In hindsight, Anders felt like he really shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was to see Damien in the hospital bed. And to see that he was chatting with an elven nurse he seemed to know really well. 

“You really didn’t need to involve yourself, you know,” she was saying as she wiped the blood off his face. 

Damien winced. “They were giving Isabela a hard time! And they were drunk at like, 5 in the afternoon!” 

The nurse - Anders recognized her as Velanna Ilshae - shook her head. “It was seven in the evening -” Damien protested. “And Isabela can handle herself. You and Carver got too involved.” 

Damien looked fake appalled. “And what kind of _gentleman_ would I be if I allowed a _lady_ to be verbally accosted on my watch?” 

Velanna stared at him for a few seconds and then smacked his nose. 

“Hey!” Damien rubbed his nose and turned to see Anders at his bed. “Anders!” Damien grinned at him, then winced - Anders could tell that probably wasn’t the best idea. There were cuts on his cheeks, near his jawline - likely from multiple rings - and bruises up and down his arms. Whoever he’d fought against had to have been shorter than him. But realistically, who wasn’t? Anders wouldn’t be surprised if he had a fractured rib, honestly. 

“Hello again, Damien.” Anders couldn’t help but smile just a little. 

“Anders, please talk to Nurse Ilshae about her bedside manners. She just assaulted a bedridden patient!” 

Velanna and Anders made eye contact and her expression completely gave off the idea that she would not care about what he had to say about that. Better to leave it alone. 

“I can take it from here, Velanna,” he said instead.

She nodded and put the gauze down. Damien waved goodbye as she went to check on another patient. 

“So is this a typical Thursday night?” Anders asked as he settled in Velanna’s spot. Those cuts were going to need cleaning and stitches. 

“Hah!” Damien laughed, quite cheerfully actually, and then winced again. “Ow! Uh, no. While I do like to keep things interesting, this was more of a night out with friends after work.” 

“That’s not very reassuring.” Anders finished cleaning Damien’s face and picked up the butterfly stitches. 

Ander would have to get up close and personal to fix up Damien’s face. Time to put that top notch bedside manner to work. 

“So, I met your cousin Bethany last week. Well, I’d met her before but I didn’t know she was your cousin. Your families are pretty well established here.” 

Damien nodded instead of responding. He was either not good with needles or he knew the routine when someone is sticking his face back together. Probably both. 

As Anders finished, he saw Damien’s hand reach up towards his face. Anders suddenly understood how Velanna got comfortable with smacking him. 

“Don’t touch.” 

Damien’s hand lowered quickly and Anders moved to stitch up the other side. 

“But, you wouldn’t know how well established you and Bethany are just by looking at you. You’re both incredibly humble.” 

Damien stifled a chuckle. Anders finished the other cheek and wiped the remaining blood off his patients face. 

“So, where do you work?” 

“The Bone Pit Construction Company,” Damien responded with a grin. 

“The - The old mining facility?” 

“Hah, yeah, crazy name right? Apparently, it decided to go into construction,” Damien explained. “The owner just didn’t feel like changing the name, I guess?” 

“Huh. Well, I’m not too confident about you working in a construction zone with your injuries. I can write you a doctor’s note to get out of work for a few days.” 

Damien shook his head. “No, don’t worry about it. I own the place, so I pretty much just bark orders.” 

“Aren’t you a little young to own a construction company?” 

Anders knew from his ID that he was only 24. Seven years younger than Anders and yet so much taller. 

“You’re telling me. But, you do a few favors for the owner, clean up some messes, uncover a few murder mysteries, and suddenly they just want nothing to do with the place. So it’s mine now, I guess.” Damien shrugged, then grabbed his side.

That didn’t sound right to Anders, but he didn’t know enough business ownership laws to argue. 

“Sure. Alright take a deep breath for me.” 

Anders put his stethoscope on and listened to Damien’s breathing. Nothing sounded out of the ordinary, though his heart rate was a little faster than normal. 

“Are you feeling alright?” Anders asked. 

“Yeah? I mean, relatively speaking. Could be better, could be worse.” 

Damien sounded pretty calm. 

“It’s just, your heartbeat is a little fast.” 

“Oh! Uh, really? That’s, uh, strange, I feel fine. Hey, why were you using a needle earlier? You’re an EMT right? I thought they couldn’t do anything that breaks the skin.” 

Was he changing the subject? Anders really didn’t know him well enough to tell if this was him being embarrassed or nervous or if he was just like that. 

“Don’t tell me I make you nervous, Damien,” Anders teased. “This is a small hospital and since all of our doctors are taking care of their patients or the men you beat up, I can bend the rules a little.” 

“Hm, you should have seen Carver,” Damien said. “He got away without a scratch. He’s Bethany’s twin, by the way.” Anders’s brows shot up. “Yeah, I figured you didn’t know.” Damien grinned yet again. 

“Are there any other family members I should know about?” Anders couldn’t keep the exasperation out of his voice, but Maker, did Damien have a lot of relatives. 

Damien laughed heartily - and then groaned in pain. Yeah, probably a bruised rib. “Uh, let’s see - Zeke, me, and Claire. And Bethany and Carver have two older sisters, Amber and Alexis. But uh, yeah, that’s it, I’m pretty sure. Do you not have siblings?” 

Anders was taken aback by the question. It wasn’t out of line or anything, but Damien’s voice suddenly carried interest and concern. It was unexpected. 

“No, I’m, uh, an only child. My parents passed away about a year ago. It’s actually why I was gone for a while.” 

“Oh - And I kept making jokes. Sorry - well, sorry for your loss.” 

Damien’s voice dropped a little and he looked so concerned and why was Anders even telling him this? 

“Don’t worry about it. We weren’t that close. They weren’t too fond of me after I dropped out of med school.” 

There was also the whole, preferred-sleeping-with-men thing, but Anders didn’t feel compelled to share that with this near stranger. But then Damien nodded like he understood. 

“Yeah that’ll make someone’s parents disown them if they aren’t too careful.” 

“Speaking from experience?” Anders asked. 

“No, not uh, mine. Zeke went through a lot with Revka.” 

“Revka.” Not “mom.” 

“Well, I do not envy Ezekiel’s position.” Anders picked up Damien’s patient clipboard and started writing. “You seem fine, other than needing stitches, and your rib is likely just bruised. Nothing’s been punctured or broken, but you should still get some anti-inflammatory medication and keep your side iced for a few days. You should be fine. Also, here’s a doctor’s note anyway,” Anders added, handing him the paper. “You know, just in case you’d like to take a few days from your highly exciting lifestyle.”

Damien chuckled. “Thanks, Anders. I’ll definitely consider that.” 

“So is your brother picking you up? I figured he’d’ve shown up by now.” 

If Anders didn’t know any better, he would have sworn Damien’s face fell for the briefest moment. 

“Who knows. Maybe they told him it was just a fist fight and I wasn’t dying this time,” he responded casually. 

“That would make sense -” 

“Nevermind, there he is.” 

Damien motioned behind Anders and there was Ezekiel, striding down the hallway to them. Again, Ezekiel pushed past Anders to get to Damien. Anders was convinced he was invisible or something. 

“Hey, Zeke.” Damien wore a sheepish grin. “What took so long? We were scared you’d forgotten about me.”

Ezekiel frowned but didn’t dignify that with a response. 

“Are you alright?” The older brother was eyeing the stitches on his brother’s cheeks. Maker, Anders didn’t want to know what he’d say if Ezekiel learned he did it and not a certified doctor. 

“Yeah I’m fine. Carver is too,” Damien added. 

Ezekiel’s teeth clenched. “ _Carver_ was with you? Is he here - Is he hurt?” 

“No, no, bro, relax. Carver didn’t get a scratch on him. He dropped me off at the hospital and then took Isabela home.” Damien placed his hands on his brothers shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. It looked like that worked. 

“Isabela was there too? What, did someone ‘verbally accost’ her again?” 

Damien laughed and grabbed his side. “Aaah. Ow. Yeah. Those men are also here, if you were interested in knowing that.” 

Ezekiel paused for a second. He seemed to be considering if he cared? Maybe? “I wasn’t. Who did your stitches?” 

Damien pointed behind Ezekiel at Anders. “Anders the EMT.” Damien grinned. 

Ezekiel turned and looked at Anders for the first time. Yeah, he was definitely invisible to this giant. Ezekiel looked almost the same as last week; bags under his eyes like he hadn’t had a good night’s rest in years, a few lines on his face, and - sunken cheeks? Was he getting enough to eat? The clothes were different, at least. White, purple, and grey plaid button up with black slacks. 

“Anders.” 

“Hello, Ezekiel.” Anders didn’t want to risk saying more than that after last week’s interaction. 

Ezekiel and Damien exchanged a meaningful look and then Ezekiel sighed and turned back to Anders. 

“The stitches look - good. Like they won’t get infected.” 

Damien groaned loudly and Anders held back a laugh. He had to assume that was Ezekiel’s version of a compliment. 

“Uh, thank you. I do my best with what we have. It’s not Amell quality resources, but we get by.” Anders smiled. 

Ezekiel frowned and Damien grimaced and - Did Anders say something wrong? 

“Right. We should get going, Damien.” 

Ezekiel walked by Anders down the hallway. 

Damien got off the bed with that same grimace and stood next to Anders. 

“You weren’t wrong, but you shouldn’t have said it. Zeke’s actually convinced Revka to donate supplies to Kirkwall’s hospitals twice a year. So some of this stuff _is_ Amell quality.” 

Anders could have kicked himself. Of course that sounded bitter. 

“Can you tell him -” 

“You’re sorry you said something so hurtful in your ignorance and hope to make it up to him?” 

Anders suppressed a frown. “The first bit is more accurate.” 

“Heh, alright. I can pass that along. Take care, Anders.” 

Damien patted Anders’s shoulder and caught up with his brother, saying something about grabbing dinner before going home. 

Just like last time, heads turned as they made their way out the building. Anders was impressed, just like last time, but he was starting to understand why. Sure, Ezekiel was definitely a catch, but Damien had his own charms. He was quick witted and funny and could take a punch, apparently. Actually, a great deal of pain, as many times he’s been in the hospital. 

Anders called a nurse to clean what was left of Damien’s blood and moved on to the next patient. 

*~*~

Anders strode through the hallway to the break room as quickly as he could. Doctors and nurses flitted about, rushing from one room to another, administering flu shots and changing bandages. It was a Tuesday afternoon and there were a lot of people in the ER with flu symptoms. Some just had stab wounds (this was Lowtown) but more than the usual were sick. He’d already been working since 10am and it was already 3pm. And he was starving. If he could just make it to the break room he’d be in the clear - 

“Anders!” 

Maker’s balls. 

Anders stopped and turned to see Velanna flagging him down. 

“Hey, I need you to take over a patient in the clinic for me.” 

“Why, Velanna?” 

“Because it’s time for my shift to be over.” Velanna crossed her arms, daring him to challenge her. 

“Velanna, I’ve been here since 10 and I haven’t eaten -” 

“Anders, I’ve been here since last night and I was called in to help with the sudden wave of sick people and _I_ had to cancel a date with a handsome man to stay here.” 

Anders glared at her and her superior smirk and gave up. It wasn’t his first full shift without eating and probably wouldn’t be his last. 

“Fine. Whatever.” 

“Thank you _so much,_ Anders,” Velanna said sarcastically. She patted his arm once as they passed each other. He groaned in response and headed to the clinic. 

\----

Anders grabbed the clipboard in front of the door and knocked. This patient was diagnosed with a bruised rib and needed a follow up, but they weren’t sick, at least. He heard a voice confirm his entry and opened the door. 

“Hey Anders!” 

Anders looked up at the cheerful voice and there was Damien, leaning back on his elbows in the bed. His red shirt was torn just above his bicep and was tucked into his black jeans. Damien sat up as Anders crossed the room to him. 

“Of course it’s you.” Anders sighed. 

“Oh - yeah, sorry, it’s just me,” Damien responded despondently. “Didn’t really mean to bug you again -” 

“No, no. No. Sorry Damien,” Anders cut him off. “I’m glad to see you - especially since it’s not in the ER.” 

“Yeah, just a follow up, doc.” Damien seemed to be proud of that. 

“I’m just really tired and starving and Velanna fed me some story about having to cancel a date with some guy and I just realized it was all a ploy to get me here -” 

“She told you she cancelled a date with a guy?” Damien asked, incredulous. “She has a girlfriend, Anders. They hang out with Bethany and Claire sometimes. I’ve even seen them go on double dates with Carver and Merrill. Her name is Sigrun, I think?” 

Anders pinched the bridge of nose in frustration. Velanna lied to get him in room with Damien. Why? 

“Right. Of course. Just to mess with me I’m sure.” 

“No! No, that’s not why - uh, look Anders I don’t wanna impose but -” 

“Yes, right, your ribcage. Let me check you out.” Anders approached Damien and poked Damien’s ribcage and he jumped a little, but no groaning, no wincing.

“Your ribs are okay?” 

Damien nodded and Anders examined his face - thin, dark lines replaced the red ones from a week ago. Damien’s arms weren’t bruised anymore either.

“You’re all healed up. This is literally the first time I’ve seen you uninjured. Why are you here then?” 

“Right, yeah, hang on.” 

Anders took a step back as Damien got off the bed and picked up a bag from the floor. He pulled out a small container of pasta, a smaller container filled with - maybe meat? - and a third full of red sauce. 

Damien couldn’t be doing what Anders thought he was doing…. Could he? 

“I don’t want you to feel like this is a bribe, or anything - I just made dinner last night and I figured you would need something to eat or whatever. I wanted to give this to you whether or not you said yes - Also I wasn’t sure if you ate meat? And I didn’t want to assume, so there’s vegetarian red sauce and some chicken -” 

Damien went on and on with increasing nervousness and Anders just couldn’t wrap his head around this. Damien asked Velanna to get Anders into the clinic so Damien could bring him food and - what else? 

“Damien, Damien,” Anders interrupted him. Damien stopped talking almost immediately. “What are you trying to say?” 

“That, uh, this is your lunch that I made whether or not you say ‘yes.’ I mean - if you want it.” Damien extended the containers to Anders. 

“Okay. Thank you, Damien,” Anders started, as he took the containers. “Say yes to what?” 

“I was hoping that, maybe on your next off day or something, maybe you and I can … you know … go out to dinner? Or, like, lunch or a movie or something.” 

Anders blinked. He went through all of this to ask him out? 

“And if you don’t want to it’s fine! I’ll leave and you won’t have to see me again.” Damien paused. “Well, you will see me again, ‘cause I’m here a lot, but not like, in a ‘ _potentially romantic_ ’ situation -” 

“Damien. You’re rambling.” Anders couldn’t hold back a grin. When was the last time he was asked out on a date? Couldn’t even remember the last time he asked someone else. Maker, was he being courted? His stomach was doing flips suddenly. 

“Mhm.” Damien stopped talking again. 

“I’d be glad to go on a date with you. One thing though; it’ll just be you and me, right? No family members?” 

Damien’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and then he laughed. “Yeah, yeah. Just you and me. No family.” 

“Then I’ll let you know when I’m free.” Anders smiled up at Damien and might have even thought he was blushing. Maker, he was too old to blush. 

“That’s - Awesome! Great! Can’t wait!” Damien leaned in towards Anders, like he was going for a hug but then decided not to. “I’ll, uh see you around!” 

Damien grabbed the bag and his jacket and bounded out the door. Anders looked over the stack of containers he’d gotten. How could anyone be so sweet? 

And then he realized he didn’t have Damien’s number. So sweet and so impulsive. Anders supposed he could get Damien’s number from Velanna or Bethany - 

Then he saw black writing on the largest container: 

_**My brother’s number: (xxx) xxx-xxxx  
Ezekiel** _


	2. Hard Hat in Hightown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damien learns a lot about life: the importance of wearing a proper uniform, how to save an awkward conversation, and what intimacy feels like.

It had been just over two weeks since Damien brought Anders a lunch and they still had not been able to meet for dinner. 

It wasn't until he'd gotten a text from an unknown number saying, "Hey Damien, it's Anders :)" that he'd realized he hadn't given Anders his number. Nevertheless, they'd been texting nonstop. Well, as non stop as one can text with someone in the medical profession. From what Damien could gather, when Anders wasn't in the hospital patching up accidents, he spent a lot of time either with his cat "Ser Pounce A Lot" or tending to his garden. True, there wasn't a lot of time between shifts, but he did his best to enjoy the few moments of quiet he could get. 

Time that Damien didn't know what he'd do if he had it. He didn't like to think about it much, what he'd do if he wasn't recovering from an injury or working. He usually didn't even have time to, anyway, between the construction work and being in the hospital. It was mainly on long commutes, like the one he was doing now from Lowtown to Hightown, that he took enough time to think about it. Then the bus got to his stop and he got off. And it suddenly didn't matter again. 

About half a mile later, Damien reached his brother's house. His own apartment always seemed so small in comparison, but even if Damien wanted to live in this neighborhood, it wouldn't be worth the cost of obeying Revka's every command. He was fine with it, honestly. There was nothing worth his own independence. 

Damien shook his head; he could think about this some other time. He unlocked the door and walked in. 

"Hey Zeke? You in here?" 

Zeke's house was the definition of minimalist. Damien sauntered into the kitchen that pretty much only had the bare essentials - top of the line stove and fridge, some counters, a microwave and coffee maker. The living room wasn't much different: a dining table, some chairs, a framed picture of the galaxy - a what? Damien did a double take and, lo and behold, an actual picture. Zeke didn't even keep pictures of his family in the living room, and yet Damien was looking at a framed background picture above the couch. The what? There was a couch. A white couch. And a coffee table. And a picture. Did Zeke sell his place? Had Damien hit his head or something on the way here? It'd only been a few months since Damien was last here. That much couldn't have changed, right? 

"Zeke!" Damien called, a little louder than earlier. "You texted and said you went home last night. I'm gonna be pissed if you lied - " 

"I'm up, I'm up." 

Damien heard Ezekiel's voice from the back of the house. The bedroom door creaked and then his brother appeared, looking tired and disheveled, but at least he'd actually gotten home.

"Good morning, Damien," Ezekiel said with a yawn. 

"Hey bro," Damien started. He gestured at the living room when Zeke stopped in front of him. "When the hell did you get all this stuff?" 

Ezekiel turned to the living room and his eyes widened, then he chuckled lowly. 

"What's so funny? I know I haven't been here in a few months but I didn't think you'd go out _shopping_ , or something," Damien ranted. "I mean, you could have told me and I'd have helped you - " 

"Damien, Damien, relax," Ezekiel interrupted. "A, uh, a friend suggested I spruce up the place. I decided to take her advice." 

Ezekiel grimaced. It was too late. Damien caught it.

"Her?" Damien repeated incredulously. "'Her' who?!" 

Ezekiel's sheepish expression told Damien everything he needed to know; Ezekiel was dating someone. Damien racked his brain and could only think of one person he knew as Ezekiel's 'significant other' and that was his old friend Jowan, and they were in high school. 

Ezekiel's exasperated sigh pulled Damien out of his reverie. "Her name is Morrigan. We've been seeing each other for a few weeks now, and she suggested I make the place a little more ... livable. Thought maybe I'd be here more often." 

Damien scoffed. "Is it working?" 

Ezekiel rubbed the back of his neck and gave him a small, sad smile. Damien regretted scoffing. "Look, how about I get ready for work and I'll drop you off at the construction site? Where are you guys working right now? Hightown police station?" 

"Well, yeah, but I wanna meet - " 

"Great, I'll be right back. Make something to eat or something." 

Ezekiel rushed back to his room before Damien could get a word in and Damien sighed and meandered back into the kitchen. Looking around this time, there were actually unwashed dishes in the sink. Had Zeke make dinner last night? 

Damien sighed and started making breakfast. 

\--------

After Ezekiel finished getting ready, they sat and ate in relative silence. Ezekiel tried for some conversation - talking about the hospital or something - but Damien didn’t engage that much. He was still processing all the information - it wasn’t the _girlfriend_ that bugged him as much as the _not telling Damien anything about it until the very last second_. He wasn’t gonna flip out or get pissed if he knew Ezekiel did something so unexpected. He wasn’t Revka. 

It wasn’t until they were both strapped into Ezekiel’s fancy new black sedan that Damien said anything. 

“Why didn’t you tell me about your new girlfriend?” 

Ezekiel kept his eyes on the freeway but Damien could see his jaw clench. “I really haven’t had the chance -” 

“That’s bullshit, and you know it,” Damien interrupted, a little angrier than he’d intended. “I’ve been open with you about Anders, you should have just opened your mouth then -” 

“You’re always in the hospital and I - I didn’t want you to worry!” Ezekiel’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. “You’re _my_ younger brother; I should be taking care of you. And I do, I guess, with the big stuff,” he continued, shoulders dropping. “But you always get … worried about potential new relationships. _If_ this panned out, I’d planned on introducing you. But you beat me to it.” 

Damien frowned. He didn’t think he’d overreacted before. There were tons of people after Ezekiel just for his status - and most didn’t know about Damien. So if he’d just _happened_ to come across Ezekiel’s potential romantic partner at a bar, who’d just _happened_ to be chatting with a friend in a bar about their “new catch,” and Damien got _worried_ about their intentions, it wasn’t his fault if they suddenly decided to break off the relationship. 

“Fine,” Damien finally conceded. “She’d better not turn out to be a gold digger.” He paused. “Or a freeloader.” 

At that, Zeke laughed loudly. “No, there’s no need to worry about that.” 

Ezekiel must really like this Morrigan if he just avoided introducing them altogether. And that was fine, Damien guessed, but still - 

“So how are things going with that EMT?” 

Damien held back a laugh. “His name is Anders, and ‘things’ are fine. We’ve been texting.” 

Damien only needed to be in the emergency room once over the last two weeks - another bar fight. He’d planned on staying out of it, honestly he did, but then the other guy said something mean. Or maybe it was something dumb. He couldn’t remember it now and if he were being totally honest, he’d forgotten it by the time he was in the hospital bed with a concussion. But he did get to see Anders then and Anders seemed fine. Ezekiel came by and picked him up and Anders said something awkward yet again - “I’m sure Damien is good to go, assuming these old MRI machines still work.” He was going for banter, Anders had texted Damien later that night, but didn’t know they were auctioned off at less than half their original price at a medical charity Ezekiel put together. And of course they were old _Amell_ scanners. 

“You don’t like him much,” Damien said. 

“He seems a little - awkward,” Ezekiel admitted. “Like he didn’t grow up with kids his own age and didn’t ever learn how to talk to actual people.” That got a laugh out of Damien. “I mean I guess he’s ….” Ezekiel trailed off as he tried to put together a compliment for someone he really didn’t know all that well. “Dedicated?” 

Another laugh. 

“I mean, what’s the appeal?” 

Damien’s laughter faded. He remembered the last time he’d tried dating someone. Some Orlesian jerk named _Gascard_. He’d wooed Damien with that damn accent and could hold his liquor better than _Sebastian_ could, was good in a fight - he should have known it was too good to be true. So he wasn’t all that surprised when Carver showed up at his apartment in the middle of the night, bloodied and angry, saying Damien’s new Orlesian beau had been drunkenly bragging about the Amell he’d bagged, and how easy it would be to get to only one that’d mattered through the screw up. He wasn’t surprised but it still hurt. Not as much as Gascard hurt after the beating he took, Carver’d assured him. Damien never had the heart to tell Ezekiel. 

“Damien?” Ezekiel called out to him as he pulled up to the police station. 

“It’s just nice to date someone new, you know?” 

At first Damien thought Anders was just new and oblivious to how things worked in Kirkwall - that he’d meet Ezekiel, fall head over heels in love, and hound Damien with questions, like they all did. But Anders was barely interested - at best - and couldn’t stop putting his foot in his mouth at worst. But, most importantly, Anders also had a thing for _him_. Not the “Damien the Amell Disappointment.” Just “Damien Amell.” 

Ezekiel sighed, dropping his concern. “Alright just - be careful, okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah of course,” Damien dragged the last syllable out as he hopped out of the car and shut the door. He tapped the hood of Ezekiel’s car and his brother drove off. 

The Hightown Kirkwall Police Station was old - even older than the Amell Hospital. Not as profitable, though. So, even though it needed to get old dents in the cells patched up, the walls needed to be properly insulated, and the roof needed work, the requisition order was never put through. That is, until Commissioner Meredith Stannard was forced into retirement half a year ago. Captain Aveline Vallen, an old friend of Damien’s cousins, had busted a renegade sect of the department working under Meredith’s orders, robbing banks and stealing from hospitals. Aveline was promoted to Commissioner and given a bonus, which she used to hire The Bone Pit Construction Company to complete the needed repairs. And her fiancé Sargeant Donnic was in the process of being promoted to Captain.

Damien waved and grinned at the officers he passed, though only a few even looked his way. Despite the fact Damien’s crew was repairing the police station at a discounted rate, the officers seemed to hold a little resentment because of the noise and the mess. How ungrateful. 

Or it could be because half of the calls the officers got involved Damien somehow. Well, maybe not half. But more than any other Kirkwall citizen. 

Damien walked out the back entrance and saw Carver up ahead, glancing between the roof and his clipboard. Roof work today, apparently. Carver looked up as Damien waltzed outside.

“Hey Damien! Where have you been?” Carver sounded like his usual amount of annoyed with a hint of urgency. 

“Carver, what’s going on?” 

Carver looked at him quizzically. “Didn’t you get my texts? We were set to start over an hour ago. But you weren’t here so I had them start without you.” 

Damien pulled out his phone and yeah, it was 10:33am. They should have started at 9am. And there were three unread texts from Carver. And one from Anders. 

“Oh - sorry. I was chatting with Ezekiel. Great job getting everyone together, though,” Damien added, patting Carver on the back. “Where should I hop in?” 

Carver’s brow furrowed as he frowned. “Weren’t you just in the hospital like, three days ago? I really don’t want to fill out the paperwork for a workplace injury.” 

Damien laughed. “No, I’m fine, I swear. I’ll get started on the roof.” 

Damien ignored Carver’s protests and headed to join the rest of his crew. Today would be an easy day, he could feel it. He’d finish his shift and then head to the Lowtown Hospital and ask Anders out - yeah, he had his number, but Damien just felt better about their in-person interactions - 

Damien heard some shuffling on the roof ahead of him and a few people yelling and looked up too late. He saw something flying towards him and then everything went black. 

\------ 

Damien was awakened by a pounding in his head. Was it internal or external…? He reached up and felt bandages wrapped around his forehead. External. He blinked and tried to turn his head - nope, that hurt. He blinked more and the bleary image came into focus: a dimly lit room with a thin divider. And a window, probably, judging by the breeze. Then he heard a steady _beep_ next to him - he was in a hospital. An actual hospital room this time. 

Hushed voices moved his attention towards the doorway. They were low, deep voices, but he couldn’t really decipher the words. He tried to sit up - and regretted it immediately. He groaned and lowered back to the bed. 

Then he heard his name and the divider moved and there was Anders. He was slightly flushed, saying something very quickly, but Damien wasn’t really paying attention to the words. It was just really nice to see Anders again, even if it had to be in his blue EMT outfit. 

“... me? Damien, can you hear me?” Anders pulled out a flashlight and shined it in Damien’s eyes. 

He blinked and squinted but tried not to move around too much. 

“I’m - I’m fine, Anders -” 

“Damien!” 

Two new voices called out his name and Ezekiel and Carver appeared, wearing identical annoyed but concerned expressions. 

“Damien, I told you _this morning_ to be careful -” 

Ezekiel was cut off almost immediately by Carver:

“Why didn’t you take the stupid helmet I was trying to give you -” 

Why were they being so loud as soon as he woke up - 

“Alright, alright,” Anders started, louder than Damien’s relative’s voices. “All non-medical personnel should be out of the room right now.” 

Anders began turning them towards the door and away from Damien. Carver protested but Ezekiel sounded genuinely angry. “ _I’m_ the actual doctor here -” 

“But not at this hospital.” Damien thought he heard a smirk in Anders’s voice. “I’ll let you back in after I’ve checked on my patient.” 

Anders closed the door, ignoring their annoyed shouts, and headed back to Damien’s bed. 

“Alright. How are you feeling? What do you remember?” 

“I take it you enjoyed showing my family out?” Anders snorted but didn’t respond. “I feel a little - groggy, I guess. I remember talking to Carver for a bit after I got to the police station but that’s it?” 

“That’s to be expected,” Anders assured him. “According to Carver’s report, you were hit with a wrench that fell from the second story roof.” 

Damien grunted. That explained a lot. 

“Looks like you have a concussion and a small cut, but no internal bleeding or any kind of internal damage,” Anders continued, reading off his clipboard. “You got off pretty lucky, honestly. I’m absolutely sure something like this has killed lesser beings.” 

Anders laughed but Damien must have missed the joke. He was too busy taking in Anders’s appearance. He’d never noticed how Anders’s eyes were just slightly amber. Kinda hazel, kinda not. Mostly amber. And his hair wasn’t blonde, not really, kind of gold, kind of bronze? Maybe like, sand. And he had scruff growing - had he not been home in a few days? Or just hadn’t had time to shave? Damien suppressed a gasp - what about Ser Pounce A Lot? 

“Damien? Are you listening? You’re looking a little dazed.” 

“Hm. Yeah, I’m fine. You look good with a little scruff.” 

“Oh!” Anders looked away and started to blush. Damien had never seen someone turn so red so quickly - it was more than a little endearing. 

“Maker, you must be really concussed.” Anders turned to Damien again. Damien started to shake his head but then thought better of it. 

“No, Anders, you’re just damn cute.” 

Anders turned away and swore under his breath. 

“You - you’re so captivated with me already. I hope you remember that once you’re, you know… not concussed.” He chuckled weakly. 

“Heh, yeah. I’d already planned on asking you out - then I got hit with a wrench.” 

“Really?” Anders turned back to Damien with a half smile. “What was your plan?” 

“I’d wanted to show up right after your shift and ask you to dinner and movie. Well, probably not tonight but hopefully soon.” 

Anders started laughing. It was such a carefree sound. 

“I actually got someone to cover my shift on Friday, if you want to maybe - wait, wait,” Anders interrupted himself. “You’re still - I’ll ask you later.” Anders rubbed the back of his neck and snorted as he stood up.

“So you do want to rest or should I call your family back in?” 

“I’m pretty sure that if you don’t call them in soon, they’ll break down the door.” Damien held back a chuckle.

“Hm. Good point.” 

Anders went back to the door and let Carver and Ezekiel in. Ezekiel said nothing, but Carver muttered something under his breath. 

“Damien, how are you feeling? Are you seeing spots?” Ezekiel asked. Damien could see the worry lines on his face. He thought about how many he caused. 

“I’m fine, Zeke, don’t worry,” Damien started. “I’m not seeing spots or anything. I’m just tired.” 

“Well, you can’t sleep yet,” Carver interjected. “Unless you want to slip into a coma and die.” 

“Actually, sleeping after getting a concussion is good for the brain,” Anders piped in from the foot of Damien’s bed. Three sets of eyes turned to him. “If he’s still sleepy in a few hours, I’ll take him in for a CT scan. But he’s able to hold a conversation, so he should be fine to take a nap.” 

Carver looked between Anders and Ezekiel. “Is he right?” 

Ezekiel sighed, annoyed. “Yes, _Anders_ is correct. Damien, if you want to sleep, you should.” Then Ezekiel turned to Anders. “But I want a call as soon as he’s awake.” 

Anders raised both hands in surrender and agreed to the doctor’s terms. Carver and Ezekiel left the room and all the remained were Damien and Anders. 

“So, go ahead and take a nap. I’ll be back in a few hours to check on you, alright?” 

Anders smiled and Damien nodded and then he was in the room alone. He felt the breeze and listened to the sounds of Lowtown: cars driving back and forth, the buzz of dozens of people chatting. And then he was asleep. 

*~*~

Damien woke up that afternoon and Anders cleared him to get checked out. “You’re fine to leave, unless you want to stay for a night to reflect on your apparently nonexistent self preservation skills.” Ezekiel came to discharge him that night, giving Anders the cold shoulder as always. Before he followed Ezekiel out, Damien pulled Anders to the side.

“Hey so I wanted to ask you something,” Damien started.

Anders looked up, expectantly. Damien held back a grin. 

“So if you’re here for days on end, what happens with Ser Pounce A Lot?” 

Anders deflated a little bit. It wasn’t a lot, but enough to make Damien smirk. 

“Oh, uh, my neighbor Mhairi checks on my cat if I haven’t been home for a few days.” 

That was … not what he expected to hear. 

“Oh she like - has a key to your place?” Damien couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice. 

“No, I just keep a spare hidden outside,” Anders answered plainly. 

“Are you sure that’s safe? I mean, don’t you live in Lowtown?” 

Anders wore a confused expression and Damien realized he was asking too much questions. 

“Nevermind - look, I actually just wanted to see if we were still on for Friday?” 

Anders’s eyebrows shot up and Damien couldn’t help but grin. 

“Oh! You, uh, you remember.” 

“Yeah, it wasn’t that long ago,” Damien teased. “I just figured it would be better to confirm it since I was, ya know, concussed earlier.” 

“Oh, yeah, I’d been meaning to ask you - I wasn’t going to actually ask you out, you’re just such a flirt when you’re concussed -” Anders groaned. “I shouldn’t have encouraged you.” 

Damien laughed as Anders blushed despite his frown.

“No, I’m just messing with you,” Damien assured him. “I’d love to watch movies at your place. I’ll even help with dinner.” 

Anders looked up at him. “Really? You still want to - even after I -?” 

“Yeah, I was already thinking about asking you out,” Damien started. “But then someone threw a wrench in my plans.”

Anders snorted and then laughed out loud. 

“Maker, you’re funny too?” 

“That’s me, Damien Amell. The complete package.” Damien grinned back at Anders. 

“So yeah, Friday, your place, around 6pm? Dinner and a movie?” Damien looked at Anders expectantly this time. Anders returned his gaze with a smile. 

“Yeah, I can’t wait. Sounds great.” 

The two of them said their goodbyes and Damien turned to follow his brother out of the hospital. Anders was surprisingly adorable. He really couldn’t wait until Friday. 

*~*~ 

Maybe anticipating Friday made the next three days go by so much slower. 

Well, Carver did make him sit on the sidelines for those days too. Didn’t want to risk him getting hurt again, or something. It was boring, but he was able to text Anders a little more. They’d texted for most of Wednesday and Thursday, but for some reason, Friday was a little slow. Damien wasn’t too worried; Anders was probably just prepping for their movie night. Which was only a few hours from now. He did have enough time to buy some food and rent a DVD or something. He just needed to wait for Anders to text him his address. 

\------

Damien checked his phone. 5:14pm. 5:14pm and still no text from Anders. He’d even texted Anders at 4:30pm when he’d realized he still hadn’t gotten a text from Anders asking for his address. And still nothing. Damien unlocked his phone again. 5:15pm. Nothing. 

Damien sighed and laid back on his couch. He’d decided to sit in his living room until Anders finally responded, instead of laying in his super comfortable bed. But he was beginning to think Anders was passively cancelling on him. Which would be weird, right? Damien’s brow furrowed. Anders had seemed so excited to go on their date; had Damien said something to make him change his mind? 

Damien bit the inside of his cheek. He should - well, he should do anything except read through the last three weeks of texts to see if he’d said anything that would make Anders second guess tonight. He didn’t want to start cooking until he got to Anders… Maybe he could change something about his appearance? Damien looked down at his clothes, an open white button up, red tank top, and black jeans. No, his outfit was fine. What else can he - 

His phone’s ringtone went off so suddenly he almost dropped it on his face. It was a text from Anders! With his address! 5:22pm. Better late than never. Damien texted back a couple of thumbs up emotes and headed out. 

\-----

Damien waited patiently at Ander’s door after knocking exactly _three_ times. Anything more was obnoxious and anything less could get missed. Anders’s apartment was on the second story of a long walkway. Even if he didn’t know the apartment number, he would have guessed it was Anders’s, given the cat stickers on the door. The door that still hadn’t opened. Hm. Should Damien stand right in front of the door or would he look too eager? Should he lean against the railing - 

The door opened. 

“Hey Anders! I was getting scared you forgot about me -” 

And then he looked at Anders’s blank face while tears started to fall. And Damien panicked. 

“Oh! No I didn’t think you’d _really_ forgotten about me! It’s just a thing I say ‘cause Revka forgot to tell Zeke to pick me up after school once in elementary school and I was there until like, eight at night and it was pitch black outside and the school almost called the police and I’m rambling and this isn’t why you’re crying.”

Anders’s face lightened up just a little, but as he started to laugh he just cried harder. 

“Hey, Anders,” Damien began, speaking lowly. He put a tentative hand on Anders’s trembling shoulder. “Can I come in?”

Anders rubbed his eyes as he nodded, and closed the door behind Damien. Damien put his bag of food down, sat on the worn out couch, and waited for Anders to do the same. 

“Okay,” Damien began. “What’s going on?” 

“I … hic … I keep losing people,” Anders whimpered. “I wasn’t supposed to work today, but - I got -hic- called in. There was a huge pile up and they needed more hands. There were five people -hic- in critical condition and one of them - my patient - her name is …” Anders took a deep breath. “Her name _was_ Ella.” Tears streamed down his face. “I told her she’d be alright - she had _finals_ -” Anders’s voice broke off and his shoulders hunched and he cried into his hands. 

Damien didn’t know what to do - were they close enough for him to console Anders? Would he even say the right thing if he tried? Would he ruin everything? But then a sob wracked through Anders’s body and it didn’t matter anymore. 

“Hey, hey,” Damien coaxed. He wrapped his arm around Ander’s shaky shoulders and rubbed his arm. “I’m sure you did everything you could -” 

Anders turned to Damien quickly and he regretted his choice of words. “I told her _and her brother_ she’d be fine! I told them she’d walk out of that hospital! They both be-believed me, Damien. And Ella, she - she goes into surgery and I leave and - then Velanna texts me and says Ella didn’t make it. Like she was telling me about the weather.” Anders looked away and laughed humorlessly. “We’ve lost so many people lately - more gang activity since Aveline became commissioner - no one seems to _care_. They keep saying ‘they’re just gang members’ - they’re _people_ , Damien. People I couldn’t s-save.” 

Damien sucked in a breath, unsure of how to continue. He really didn’t want to mess up again - but Anders’s tear-streaked face, looking up at him despondently, gave him what he needed to continue. 

“You can’t save everyone, Anders. You’re only human - you’re an EMT. You’re not even the person who operated on her so - you can’t have been responsible for her death. You can’t …” Damien paused for a second. “You can’t expect yourself to do or save more than you would expect anyone else to. And you can’t let the death of one person bring you down like this. Otherwise, you’ll lose someone you _can_ save. And sometimes you can only save one person, but it’s better than saving no one.” 

“Only one person? How would that h-help?” 

“I don’t know but - I mean, you saved me, didn’t you?” Damien offered as he wiped Anders’s cheek with his thumb. 

Anders leaned into Damien’s hand. “You weren’t in critical condition,” he said, but he still smiled weakly. 

“Yeah, but, it’s a start, right?” 

Anders linked his hand with Damien’s. Anders ‘hmm’-ed curiously and Damien’s heart skipped a beat but other than that it was quiet for a few moments. 

“I’m sorry I - I didn’t mean for you to see me like this,” Anders started, looking up at Damien. 

Damien shook his head immediately. “No - you don’t have to apologize!” 

“It’s just, you came over for dinner and movie and you’ve just been consoling me. I didn’t want to cancel and - well you’ve probably had this talk a thousand times.” 

Damien’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?” 

Anders gave him a pointed look and then Damien got it. “Oh - Do you mean with Ezekiel? No I haven’t had this talk with him.” Anders looked crestfallen for a second and Damien added, “I’m sure he’s lost patients too! But he’s never told me. I think he wants to keep the ‘dependable big brother’ facade going, you know? Probably thinks he can’t be vulnerable _and_ reliable but well.” Damien shrugged. “I guess we, uh, deal with everything our own way.” 

“Everything” being anything between family issues and career choices. But, well, it wasn’t something he wanted to get into now, despite Anders’s adorable curious face. 

“Alright, what you need is pizza and a romantic comedy,” Damien said as he whipped out his phone and looked up the number for _Kirkwall’s Champion Pizzeria_. 

Anders looked at him quizzically. “What about making dinner?”

Damien waved off his, well, romantic interest(?)’s concern. “There’s nothing a good pizza and a funny movie can’t solve. Besides, there’s always next time, right?” 

Damien grinned as he dialed the number. Anders, red in the face, piped up with his order: cheese and pineapple. Damien made a face, at first, but then compromised and added sausage. 

“Okay, how about we pop in a movie?” 

Damien walked back to the door - he’s just realizing how small Anders’s apartment is, the only separation between the kitchen and living room being the floor tiles - and grabbed the two DVDs he rented from his bag. Oh, the food. He should put that up - 

“You _rented_ DVDs? I could have just streamed them, you know.” 

Anders’s tone was so incredulous, Damien felt embarrassed. He could feel his cheeks heat up but he was grateful Anders wouldn’t be able to tell. 

“Well! Just call me old-fashioned,” Damien replied, and sat back down next to Anders. 

Anders looked over the DVDs. “ _Hard in Hightown_? I thought these were romantic comedies.” 

“Hah! No, uh, it’s based on my cousin’s friend’s book. She - Alexis, Carver and Bethany’s sister - really wanted me to watch it but I haven’t had the time. But, I don’t know, it could be funny.” 

“ _Swords and Shields_?” 

“Okay, this one, I’m pretty sure is an action movie, but it’s also by my cousin’s friend, so yeah…” Damien trailed off. 

“... You really need to expand your movie library.” 

Damien chuckled. “Well, do you have any better suggestions?” 

Anders did have better movies: one about a near invincible elf who killed dozens of Orlesian chevaliers in the name of vengeance, one about a Fade spirit’s descent to madness after being summoned by a human. Huh. 

“Okay, let’s watch the Fade spirit one and _Hard in Hightown_ ,” Damien decided finally. 

Anders agreed, and he put the DVD on his laptop. The desktop screen was a picture of his cat, which Damien just realized he hadn’t seen yet. Anders plopped back on the couch, noticeably closer to Damien this time. There was still a little room in between them, which Damien scooched just enough to fill it. Thighs and arms touching. 

Twenty minutes into the movie, the pizza showed up. Damien paid and brought the pizza back to the couch and this time Anders laid his head on his shoulder. And it was nice. The only noise between them was the movie and their breathing. Damien almost wished he’d tried dating someone sooner.


	3. Wine and Whine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damien tries to chill in his own apartment when he's visited by his dear cousin, Alexis Hawke, and her boyfriend Fenris.

Damien frowned at his unexpected guests as he leaned against the open door frame. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked, thinly veiled annoyance coloring his voice. 

Before him stood a giggling, swaying Alexis and her very amused boyfriend, Fenris. Damien pulled out his phone; 9:30pm. 

“Damien, you should - you have to tell us about _Anders_ ,” Alexis slurred, a grin plastered on her face. 

Damien shot Fenris a look, a mix of annoyance and betrayal. Damien told Fenris briefly about Anders, in passing, when they happened to see each other at a bar last week. He also told him specifically not to tell Alexis, at least until he was ready to tell her. 

Fenris shrugged, though the amused look was steady on his face. “Ezekiel told her.” 

Damien rolled his eyes and invited the two of them in. He didn’t really believe Fenris until Alexis started raving at the elf about _trust in a relationship_ and how he should have told her immediately. 

Damien locked the door behind them and walked them to his living room. He didn’t really mind the company - he’d been starting to miss living with people ever since Carver moved out - but he was also in the middle of planning his next date with Anders. They hadn’t actually seen each other since the movie night at Anders’s place two weeks ago; Anders had been working more overnight shifts, and Damien had been working at the Kirkwall Station more (now required to wear a hard hat the moment he walks into the building). Damien was starting to feel, admittedly, a little lonely. He could always get Velanna to drag Anders to the clinic again, but he didn’t want to seem predictable - 

“Damien pay attention to us!” 

Alexis had dropped her jacket on the floor next to the leather couch and was laying down with her legs across Fenris’s lap. Damien rolled his eyes and tossed her jacket onto her face. 

“Red wine?” he asked Fenris as Alexis huffed and threw her jacket back to the floor. 

“Sure.” 

“I just wanna know - I don’t know anything about Anders, Damien! When did you even start dating again!” Alexis called after him as he sauntered into the kitchen. 

Damien kept a couple of bottles of fancy Orlesian red wine just in case they came to visit. Alexis had whined about Fenris’s preference for social drinking, and though Fenris himself seem didn’t have many complaints, Damien did not want to hear his cousin whine every time they came over. Plus, Damien liked Fenris. So, no big deal. 

“Not long, Alexis, I swear,” Damien responded, returning to the living room with a glass of wine. Fenris thanked him as it was placed on the coffee table. 

“But long enough that Ezekiel _and_ Fenris knew!?” 

Damien rolled his shoulders as he sat on the couch across from them.

“Zeke only knew cuz I was at his place when I made Anders lunch -” 

“You made him lunch!? Oooh, that’s so cuuuute,” she cooed, reaching over to tap Fenris’s arm to get his attention. “Did you know that?” 

“Yeah. He told me everything,” Fenris lied with a smirk. 

“Why didn’t you tell me!” she yell-whined. She had a talent for that, he remembered with a grimace.

“Alexis, Fenris only knew that Anders exists ‘cause he texted me while we were at the Hanged Man once.” 

Alexis sat up and crossed her arms, this time directed at Fenris. “You went to the Hanged Man without me?” 

“I told you about it. You were busy trying to set Isabela and Amber up.” 

Alexis pouted and she leaned onto the elf. “Did you have fun?” 

“Hm. Yeah,” he mused, but shot a look at Damien. He must not have told her about the fight they got into that night. 

That _was_ fun. Some drunk asshat had tried to shove Fenris around, thinking because he was an elf with white hair, he was old and easy to push around. They had exchanged a grin and took the guy down in less than five minutes. Only one of the rando’s friends jumped in, so a pretty easy fight.

“Fine, I guess,” Alexis murmured. Then she sighed and flopped onto Fenris’s lap. “I don’t even remember why we came here.” 

Damien opened his mouth to lie his ass off, but Fenris interrupted him with the truth: “The EMT.”

And Alexis jolted back up, knocking Fenris’s phone up into his face. “THE EMT!!”

“Alexis, I’m not gonna tell you anything about Anders,” Damien snapped. He didn’t mean to, not really, but his cousins and their friends had gotten very interested in his love life after the whole Gascard incident, and their involvement was not something he was looking forward to. 

“Okay, okay, how about this,” Alexis started, suddenly sitting up and facing him. “Drinking contest. If I win, you tell me all about your new beau. If you win, I get his number.” 

Damien’s brow furrowed incredulously. That made zero sense.

“What?” 

“Alexis, try again,” Fenris offered. 

“Mm, if I win, I get to visit him at the hospital, and if you win, I can go to his house,” Alexis challenged. 

Fenris barely stifled a chuckle. Damien shook his head. 

“How about if you win, a very slim chance, we can all go out to the Hanged Man. When I win, I tell you 2 facts about Anders, and you drop it.” 

“Five facts,” Alexis countered. 

“Two facts and a real life, personal story about a time we went out.” 

“Ooh, that’s good. Okay let’s do that,” she agreed cheerfully. 

With a sigh, Damien got up and headed back to the kitchen. He rifled through his alcohol cabinet. It’d been a while since he’d gotten drunk with Alexis, so this could be fun. A good distraction from his inability to decide on a date with Anders - 

“Damien wait - get the wine!” Alexis called from the living room. 

Damien looked over at her mischievous grin. 

“Wait, what? Who has a drinking contest with wine, Alexis?” 

“Fenris does,” she answered, mischievous grin becoming a devious smirk. That was mimicked by the elf next to her. 

He’d walked himself into a trap. 

*~*~

“That’s it, I give,” Damien groaned, pushing his glass away from him. 

Fenris downed 4 glasses while Damien struggled through his second, and almost getting through the fifth before Damien gave up. Damien exhaled. He could drink half a bottle of fireball whiskey without puking, but wine? No, that was his Achilles heel. 

“Ugh… You set me up, didn’t you Alexis?” Damien forced out as he laid on the couch. “You probably weren’t even,” he breathed out, “drunk.” 

Alexis snickered as she reached for Damien’s unfinished glass. “Of course not, cousin. But how else would I have gotten info out of you?” 

Damien turned his exasperation on Fenris. “You told her immediately, didn’t you.” 

Fenris shrugged, cheeks ever so slightly red. “I texted her while I was in the bar. She’d kill me if I hid it from her.” 

Damien groaned again. Did he have ginger ale in the fridge? He did not want to be hung over in the morning. 

“Call Anders! We have to set up the date!” she exclaimed as she bounced in her seat. 

Damien covered his ears with his hands. Her voice was somehow so deep and still so loud. 

“How about you… decide on the time and day, and I call him later?” 

She responded with something that he managed to block out and maybe he shut his eyes for a few minutes, but then he jolted upright when something fell onto his stomach. The world seemed to tilt drastically and he held his head in his hands. 

“Okay I have the time and day ready! Call him!” Alexis squealed. 

He looked down and there was his phone. 

“Fine.” 

Alexis relayed the day and time off as he dialed Anders’s number. This works out, he supposed. He was having a hard time deciding on a date anyway. And her meddling was inevitable.

“Hello?” 

Damien ignored the increase in his pulse as he over analyzed the grogginess in that one syllable.

“Anders? Were you asleep already?” 

“Mmm. Just waking up actually,” Anders replied, maybe a little less groggy. 

“At ten at night? Bold,” Damien said with a laugh. 

Alexis perked up at that, exclaiming, “Oooo, is that _boyfriend banter_?” 

Damien groaned and, pulling away from the phone, chided, “Alexis, shut up. You wanted me to call him!” 

Alexis giggled but was maybe a little quieter than before. Damien sighed as he returned to the phone. 

“I didn’t know you had company,” Anders stated plainly. Was that _jealousy_ Damien heard? No, he just had too much wine. 

“Just Alexis, my cousin. I told you about her,” Damien began. “She, uh, ambushed me with her boyfriend at my apartment like an hour ago. I thought she was drunk, but it was a trap,” Damien added. “She challenged me to a drinking game. Wine. Not my forte.” Damien chuckled. He hadn’t realized how much he missed Anders’s voice.

“And how, praytell, was she able to defeat _you_ in a drinking game?” Anders’s voice was now colored in amusement and Damien couldn’t blame him. 

“Well, funny story. Her boyfriend sure can hold his wine. And _I_ cannot.” He couldn’t hold back a grin.

“What were the stakes of this high pressure drink off?” 

“A group date. Alexis and Fenris, and Amber and Isabela. Alexis really wants to meet you.” Damien paused thoughtfully. “Something simple! You know, the Hanged Man in Lowtown. So, no pressure.” 

Alexis started saying something how Amber was invited to Isabela’s party but couldn’t make it because of work and how that put such a wrench in her 4 month plan to get them together and this would be a great way to get that started back up and Damien realized Anders had been silent.

“Anders? You still there?” 

“Ah, yeah I’d - I’d love to meet your cousins. How could I resist winning over more of your charming family?” 

Damien snickered. 

“Good, that’s great,” Damien responded. “Hang on,” he added hastily. He glanced at Alexis, who was leaning on Fenris’s shoulder, looking at her boyfriend’s screen. They were chatting quietly about something and would probably not notice if he got up very quickly and ran to his room. 

And so he did. By the time Alexis caught on, he was down the hall and in his room with the door closed and locked. Damien huffed a little and tried to downplay it. The run wasn’t all that bad but the wine was killing him. 

“Everything alright?” Anders asked. 

“Yeah I,” Damien panted. “I uh, shouldn’t have ran after so much wine.” 

Anders chuckled shortly as Damien let out a breath. “You should sit down and put your head between your knees.” 

“This is why I hate phone calls,” Damien said after a pause. He strolled over to his bed and laid down. “You can hear how tired I sound, but you can’t see how amazing I look, glistening with,” he let out another breath, “sweat.” 

“I’m not complaining about what I’m hearing.” 

Damien could hear the grin in Anders’s voice and he snickered.

“I haven’t seen you much lately,” Damien said. 

“I know,” Anders responded.

“What? You didn’t miss me?” Damien was a little hurt he didn’t get more than that. 

“I did,” Anders said. “Scout’s honor,” he added, making Damien snicker. “I was just telling Nathaniel all about you.” 

“Oh? Did _you_ have company?” 

“My apartment is as empty as ever,” Anders replied. “Meaning, it’s me and Ser Pounce A Lot. Nathaniel is an old friend from Ferelden. He called a little after I got home.” 

“And what did you tell him about me?” Damien could hear shuffling at his door and lowered his voice. 

“That you’re more flirty when you’re concussed or inebriated and you make me question my own morality.” 

Damien laughed - that really wasn’t the intention but a very nice effect nonetheless. 

“I should probably get going,” Damien said reluctantly. “Alexis is likely to break down my door if I make her wait any longer.”

He heard a muffled, “I won’t if you speak up louder!” and he rolled his eyes. 

“So soon? Whatever will I do without your voice in my ear?” 

Damien chuckled, ignoring the way his heart sped up as the possibilities ran through his mind. “I’ll text you tomorrow about the time and place for our date this weekend.” 

“Sounds good. I’ll see you soon, Damien.” 

“Can’t wait, Anders.”

Damien hung up and walked back to his bedroom door. There was muffled whispering on the other side, and as he opened it, Alexis and Fenris fell into his room. He eyed them as they detangled themselves. 

“Fenris! I told you not to invade his privacy,” Alexis hastily accused. 

Damien sighed as he helped the couple to their feet. 

“Is there anything else you want, dear cousin?” 

“Oh, yeah, gimme your phone,” she said with an expected hand outstretched. 

Damien looked at her hand skeptically. 

“C’mon, cousin, I just wanna set up a group chat so we’re all on the same page at the same time. Don’t you trust me?” 

She flashed an innocent grin and his instinct said _of course not_ but he handed his phone over anyway. 

She texted away and Damien looked over at Fenris, who was swaying ever so slightly. 

“Do you maybe, need some water or something?” 

Fenris shook his head, maybe a little too hard. “No, I’m fine.” 

“Okaay,” Damien replied. 

Damien tried waiting patiently for Alexis to finish, but then she tilted the phone towards Fenris, who snickered.

“Hey Alexis, what are you doing with my phone?” 

“No-nothing,” Alexis obviously lied. 

“Give it back,” Damien said quickly as he snatched it back. And then frowned at the texts on the screen. 

“You said you were sending a group text, Alexis,” he snapped, inexplicably annoyed. 

“And you believed me? At this point in our relationship, this is on you, cousin.” 

Damien shot Fenris a look, who shrugged in a “she’s-right-you-know” kind of way. Damien groaned and held his head in his hands.

Alexis laughed and linked arms with Fenris. “So, very awesome, very productive night. Can’t wait to meet your new beau, bro.” 

Damien laughed despite his annoyance. 

“Okay, get out of my apartment.” 

And so they did, and Alexis finger gunned the whole way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience during my very long and unscheduled hiatus! Ch 4 will be up next Friday (10/19) :)


	4. The Hanged Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anders takes the next step in his undefined relationship with Damien - meeting his friends + cousins, the Hawkes.

Anders woke up late the next morning, after spending the night on his couch. Ser Pounce A Lot had left him at him point during the night. His phone was dying, unsurprisingly. But he was surprised to see he had so many unread texts. Mostly from Damien.

Damien (22:53):   
Hey Ander s  
Damien(22:53):   
U hav a cute butt :3   
Damien(22:54):   
i cant w8 4 u 2 meet my fave cuz n her super hot bf  
Damien(22:55):   
when r u gonna stay ovewef  
Damien(23:05):   
sorry, Anders. thought Alexis was just gonna send a group text abt the date this weekend. shes been texting you not me 

Anders snickered as he composed his response. 

Me (10:27):   
you don’t think i have a cute butt? :3c 

Anders sauntered into his room, phone in hand, kicking old clothes aside. Now that he thought about it, this was the first time in a while he’d seen his bedroom in natural light, and boy, did he need to dust _everything_. He jammed the charger cable in the phone as it hit 1% and the phone buzzed. 

Damien (10:31):  
you have an adorable butt. but if you ever make that emote at me again, im blocking your number.

Anders knew he should think a little longer about how to respond to this. He knew there was a right answer and a wrong one. He took in a small breath and typed. 

Me (10:33):   
>:3c

Anders tossed his phone down and picked out his outfit for work. A quick shower and maybe some toast before heading out. He checked his phone out of habit - 10:40 and no response - and hopped into the shower. 

And 20 minutes later he was dressed and still didn’t have a response. Was the emote going too far? He popped bread into the toaster and filled Ser Pounce A Lot’s bowl. And then finally, as he was about to step out the door, he got a response. 

Damien (11:03):   
after careful consideration ive decided to to go forward with the date. the hanged man at 10 on saturday.

Anders bit into his toast. Was he that mad about the emote? Also, who meets somewhere _at_ 10pm? 

Damien (11:04):   
i cant wait to see you.

Neither could Anders. 

*~*~

Anders shuddered despite his peacoat. He was standing outside the Hanged Man in Lowtown, waiting for the rest of the group to show up. Damien said he was on his way around 7:45pm - Anders was early. He’d spent most of Saturday out running errands, doing laundry, grocery shopping, biding his time until 10pm. And for the strangest reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had been watching him all day. It had to be nerves, right? Meeting Damien’s cousins. His “boyfriend.” Were they boyfriends? Maker, this was stressful - 

Metal clanging in the alley by the Hanged Man broke him out of his reverie. Something over there made the hairs on his neck stand on end - 

“Anders!” 

Anders turned and saw Damien striding towards him, followed closely by four other people. Damien looked handsome and comfortable, as always; black jeans and a red hoodie. Something about the way he dressed was endearing, Anders had to admit. Although he couldn’t help but wonder what he’d look like in a suit. 

“Ooo, this is Anders!?” 

Anders recognized the voice from the late night call - Alexis. Her afro bounced as she bounded towards Anders with outstretched arms. 

“I’ve waited so long to meet you!” 

Alexis pulled him into a brief but tight hug and then looked him up and down. Anders held back a frown. He supposed he’d have to get used to Damien’s family towering over him. 

“Hm. I thought you’d be taller for some reason? Well, I’ve heard so much about you! Meaning, I know you exist and Damien thinks you’re cute.” 

Anders stole a bashful look at Damien, who rolled his eyes but still faced him. Alexis turned and grabbed the arm of a white haired man. Despite the hair, the man didn’t look any older than Anders was. Did he dye his hair white? 

“This is Fenris, my super hot boyfriend,” Alexis proclaimed, grinning. So she wasn’t just drunk before; that was just how she referred to him. Fenris wore a long black coat and skinny jeans and a very uninterested expression as he gave Anders a once over. Was he glaring? 

“H-hello,” Anders said. He got a nod in response. 

“This is Amber, my sister,” Alexis said, motioning to an almost equally tall woman behind her with long braids. Amber had on a thick blue flannel button up and blue jeans and a small smile. 

“Hey, Anders,” Amber said with a small wave. 

“Hey, Amber,” Anders replied. He liked how that exchange sounded. 

“And this lovely creature is Isabela,” Alexis added, referring to the final person. She was standing a little too close to Damien, laughing about something. At the sound of her name she looked up at Anders and gasped. 

“Oh, I know you!” Isabela said. “Weren’t you the one - you know, at the Pearl? In Ferelden?” She had on a black sweater dress and a scarf, and didn’t look all that familiar, honestly. 

“Who are you?” 

“You know,” she drawled, hands on her hips. “Isabela. From the Pearl. Like four months ago.” 

Anders’s brow furrowed in confusion until it dawned on him. The one night stand in the bathroom at the Pearl the night after his parents’ funeral. 

“ _Oh._ How, uh, how have you been?” Anders stammered. Dare he peek at Damien’s face? 

He dared. Damien had his arms crossed but there was the smallest quirk of his lips. Maybe he was holding back a smirk? But at least he wasn’t angry. 

Alexis grimaced, Fenris looked amused, and Amber gazed at Isabela as if she were a dream - but really, no one seemed to care. 

“Oh, you know. Same old, same old. Freezing my ass off out here though. Shall we go inside?” Isabela offered, motioning towards the door. 

Damien chuckled and held it open as everyone filed in. Anders took one last look at the alley before following the group. 

“Hey,” Damien whispered as Anders passed him. “Relax. They’ll love you.” 

Then he leaned towards Anders and placed a quick but soft kiss on his forehead and ushered him inside. Anders did his best to ignore the blush spreading across his face. _Maker, he is too old to blush._

One look at the inside of this fine establishment told Anders all he needed to know - this was a dive bar. A loud one. He hadn’t been in one of those since he left university. The lights were on but they were kind of dim, as if they were all on their last leg at the same time. The floor looked - brown? As if it was made of wood, but a few sticky steps in, Anders had to wonder the last time the floors had been mopped. There were small, circular tables in the middle, and larger booths along the sides whose cleanliness looked a little less questionable. For the briefest second, Anders wondered why Damien bothered coming here - then he saw the bar. 

The bar was made of shiny, polished wood. The seats were made of metal but shaped like ropes and looked like - oh, a noose. Clever. Behind the bar were shelves of alcohol, all color coordinated, a light to dark rainbow, with dozens of shot glasses lined up next to it. And to the left of the shelves, a refrigerator full of beer.

“Welcome to the Hanged Man,” Damien told him with a grin. The group walked past the bouncer - they must all be regulars here, because the bouncer didn’t even stop Anders as he walked in. Or maybe standing next to all these mid-twenty-somethings made it more obvious how much older than 21 Anders was. 

“Alright, what’s everyone’s poison?” Alexis asked as they filed into the booth. Amber, Fenris, and Alexis on one side and Isabela, Damien, and Anders on the other. 

“Just have Varric make me something special,” Isabela responded with wink. 

“Bring me something with scotch. No wait, fireball whiskey shots,” Damien said. 

“Hm. Bourbon,” Amber told her sister. 

“Red wine,” Fenris replied. After a short pout from Alexis, Fenris sighed and scooted out of the booth and stood next to her. 

“Anders?” Alexis encouraged, smile returned to her face. 

“Uh…,” Anders stammered. He didn’t know what to choose. Maker, he couldn’t even remember the last time he went out to drink. Would tonight ruin his old as dirt liver? He’s never liked dark alcohol to begin with.

“Rum?” he settled on finally. He worked late tomorrow and didn’t know how much they’d be drinking. 

Alexis snickered. “I’ll just tell Varric you’re a lightweight.” 

She linked arms with her boyfriend and weaved through the crowd to the bar. Anders looked between Damien, Amber, and Isabela, wondering who would speak first. 

“So, how’d the two of you meet?” Isabela asked, cutting through the silence. She leaned in front of and over Damien to make eye contact with Anders. 

“We uh…. At the hospital.” 

“The hospital?” she repeated incredulously, a grin breaking out on her face. “Oh, that’s good. Lots of potential there. Are you his naughty patient, Damien? Oh, does Anders make _house calls_?” 

Damien burst out laughing but Anders couldn’t tear his eyes from Isabela’s arm wrapped around Damien’s - 

Damien nudged Anders softly and gave him a look. 

“Well, I mean - could you blame me?” Anders stammered. “Granted, the low light of a half light Lowtown Hospital room, the ambiance of a dozen people bleeding out make incredibly romantic background noise, but I prefer to get up close and personal with my patients.” 

Isabela raised an eyebrow with a smirk and Damien’s face lit up. 

“Yeah Isabela, you should have seen the way he pumped my stomach. Super hot.” 

Amber snorted at the other side of the table. Isabela shot her a look. 

“Okay, well, what about dates? Those have got to be steamy, what with Damien’s impulsive, primal instincts?” Isabela’s voice dropped and her lips quirked into a smirk. 

Damien’s brow furrowed in what could be confusion or embarrassment. 

“Pretty simple, actually,” Damien started slowly. “We just met up and watched movies.” Anders tried to ignore the hit to his pride. Should they be doing more during dates? Maybe he was too old for Damien -

“- Right Anders?” 

Amber, Isabela, and Damien all had eyes on him. He’d missed the end of Damien’s statement. 

“It’s simple but fun, right?” Anders couldn’t resist Damien’s crooked grin. 

“Yeah,” Anders agreed, making eye contact with Damien. “Simple but fun.” 

They held eye contact, maybe for a little too long, because Isabela cleared her throat and motioned behind them. Alexis and Fenris were back, followed by a short blonde man in an open button up shirt carrying a tray of drinks who was very comfortable and very fond of his chest hair. Anders wondered if that was a health code violation.

“Varric!” Amber called out with a grin. 

“Hawke, welcome back,” Varric said with a grin. He laid the tray on the table. Alexis and Fenris filed in next to Amber. “Here are your drinks: Rivaini, Pink Panties.” He slid a tall glass of pink liquid over to Isabela. “Hawke, a shot of bourbon. Gorgeous, your tequila. Broody, red wine. Killer, your fireball whiskey. And you,” Varric trailed off, examining Anders. “Blondie, your rum.” Varric slid a glass over to Anders.

“Blondie”? Hopefully that didn’t stick. 

Varric looked over Anders again, then grinned at Damien. “You’ve got to tell me how the two of you met sometime. That’s gotta be a story.” 

Damien chuckled and raised his glass. “Definitely.” He downed his shot in one go. Oh to be young again. 

“I’ll get another round,” Varric said with a chuckle as he left. 

“So! Tell me everything I missed!” Alexis exclaimed. Anders saw her shot glass was already empty. He hadn’t even dared to touch his rum yet. 

“Anders abuses his authority as a nurse to take advantage of Damien when he’s in the emergency room and pump his stomach,” Isabela rattled off with a smirk as she sipped her drink. 

The reactions around the table were spectacular: Fenris choked on his mouthful of wine, Alexis’s jaw dropped, Amber snorted and it almost sounded painful, Damien laughed aloud, and Anders was so mortified by the way she phrased that. 

“He does - what?” Alexis asked. 

“No, I’m joking,” Isabela amended with a laugh. 

Damien raised his eyebrows at Anders and then looked pointedly at Alexis and maybe he was trying to say to respond with something? He took a deep breath and downed his rum shot. Why the hell not? 

“No she’s right,” Anders interjected. An anxious kind of silence settled onto the table, everyone’s eyebrows raised in anticipation. Well, mostly everyone’s. “Shall I go over it in explicit detail? He’s always at work or in the hospital, so honestly we don’t see each other much. But now that we’re dating, anytime he comes in, I can just get him a private room and have my way with him.”

He looked around the table, a mix of horror and confusion and disbelief on everyone’s faces - except Damien’s, for some reason. He wore the largest grin Anders had ever seen. Then, finally, Amber laughed loudly as she reached for her drink. 

“Hah! Good one, Anders,” she said with a smirk. 

“Thank you,” Anders replied, relieved someone got the joke. “I’ll be here all night.” 

Damien laughed loudly. “Oh man, why did you tell them you were joking? A few more seconds and I could have had new profile pictures for all of them. Anders, that was great.” 

Damien did indeed have his phone out with the camera ready. Anders just really didn’t want them to think he’d actually … _do_ any of that. The others downed their drinks with an exasperated expression and honestly, Anders couldn’t blame them. 

“Oh, since the camera is out already, come here,” Damien said, pulling Anders in close to him. Anders looked up a second too late and Damien already snapped the picture. Anders saw it briefly; he looked wide eyed and just a little confused, while Damien grinned like the super star model he should be. 

Then the short blonde man from earlier showed up with another round of drinks “on the house.” Alexis downed her shot and requested another round. 

“We’re gonna play ‘Never Have I Ever,” Varric. Keep ‘em coming,” Alexis said. 

Anders groaned as Varric walked off. Damien patted his back affectionately and downed his shot at once. 

*~*~ 

“Never Have I Ever” only lasted three rounds - Alexis, Fenris, and Amber - before Anders just couldn’t keep up shot for shot. (Damien finished the next two rounds for him.) If he were still in med school and his shots were vodka, maybe, but now? No idea how he’d lasted so long. Then the group just chatted amongst themselves. Amber and Fenris talked about some a new knife shop that just opened up and Isabela showed some pic of a “knife” she just bought herself - but judging by Amber’s reaction, they were not all on the same page. Alexis gave up on the “Anders takes advantage of Damien on a regular basis” fear and started telling Anders stories about young Damien. Which Damien protested. 

And then Varric announced the last call and Amber got everyone a round of waters and figured out how they’re getting home. Fenris, Amber, and Anders were all good to drive, so Damien gave Amber his keys and told her to “get Isabela home safe” with a wink. Amber rolled her eyes, but even Anders could tell she was embarrassed. 

As they walked into the cold night, Anders couldn’t help but think he had a good time. It’s been a while since he’d done something with anyone outside of work, let alone people at least 3 years his junior, but he wouldn’t hate doing this again. 

“Hey, Anders.” 

He turned to see Amber behind him, bracing herself against the cold. Anders smiled a little. 

“Hey, Amber.” 

“Sorry my sister is so intense. Damien is kind of… well, let’s just say he’s the type to put all his eggs in one basket so, meeting you was just to make sure it’s the right one, you know?” Amber shrugged nonchalantly. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re kind of, weird, I guess, but I think you’ll be good for Damien. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen him smile so much.” 

With that, she patted his shoulder and weaved through the remaining people to get to her friends. Damien may not have a great relationship with his parents - in addition to his estranged relationship with his mother, Anders had never heard him mention his father - but his cousins and his friends were good people, and really did care about him. Maybe Anders wasn’t entirely impressive, but Damien’s found family already got it - Damien seemed happy with Anders. Anders didn’t need to worry. 

“Andeeers,” a deep voice whined in front of him. 

Damien had finally trudged outside to lean all over Anders. Even after all the shots he’d had (at least 8, by Anders’s count), Damien didn’t put much of his body weight on Anders. Enough for Anders to support him, but Anders was not holding him. 

“Did you have fun?” Damien asked, his voice dangerously close to Anders’s ear. Anders could smell the alcohol on his breath. He chuckled as he squeezed Damien closer. 

“Yeah, I did. Your family is, well,” he paused, thinking of the word. “Your family is as warm and passionate as you are.” 

“Hm,” Damien mused as he held Anders tighter. “Yeah, I think so too.” 

And they stood like that for a few minutes, Anders completely comfortable in Damien’s embrace. Then the lights in the dining area turned off and Anders patted Damien’s back softly. 

“Hey, let’s get you home.” 

Damien stood up, almost reluctantly, and stared into Anders’s eyes. Before Anders could ask, Damien’s warm hands found Anders’s jaw. His thumbs made small circles on his cheek and Anders swore inwardly. He was too old to blush. 

“Can I…,” Damien began. “Can I kiss you?” 

Anders chuckled despite his elevated heart rate. “Were you working up the courage to ask?” 

“Yeah. Is that a yes?” Damien held his his gaze while he waited for an answer. 

“Yes. You don’t need to ask.” 

Damien’s face split open with a grin as he bent to kiss Anders. He expected it to be fast, rushed, but Damien locked surprisingly soft lips with him slowly, taking his time. This close, Anders could smell Damien’s cologne. Leather and vanilla and sandalwood. He expected Damien to press deeper into the kiss, but maybe he was waiting for permission? He peeked at Damien’s face and Damien hadn’t had the decency to close his eyes. He’d been watching Anders react to the kiss and realizing that made Anders blush even harder. His lips parted slightly and then he was overwhelmed.

Damien’s fingers interlocked behind Anders’s head, suddenly pulling him into Damien. A low moan slipped out as Damien’s tongue slipped into Anders’s mouth, tracing over his teeth. Then his tongue flicked the roof of his mouth and a shiver shot through Anders’s spine. He could smell the alcohol on his breath, taste the cinnamon on his tongue. He gripped onto Damien’s sides and felt the man stiffen. Damien let out a breathy laugh and Anders took that chance to take a breath. Anders received a quick kiss on the lips before Damien released him. 

“Hah, I’m uh, a little ticklish,” Damien murmured apologetically. 

“ _You_ may not need to breathe, but I do,” Anders chided. Not that he was complaining. 

“Wanna get out of here?” His voice was low and husky and Anders needed to hear more of it. 

He opened his mouth to respond and suddenly he was shoved behind Damien, stumbling a few feet before catching himself. He heard a loud crack and a second later, a heavy thud and a clanging sound. 

“Ah… ow. Anders, you okay?” Damien turned around to face Anders, who still hadn’t fully processed what just happened. “Sorry I kind of… tossed you. I saw him at the last second.” 

“I’m fine, Damien, are you okay?” Anders walked up to Damien, taking in his glistening forehead. Was he sweating before? 

“Yeah, no, I’m fine. Check on this guy.” He was a little out of breath but he did just throw a man and headbutt another one. 

Anders turned the unconscious man over and he was a little familiar, maybe. Maybe he’d seen him in the hospital? Older, haggard looking man with beard scruff and scraggly hair, old worn dark clothes. Anders reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Didn’t recognize the name or ID, but the picture was familiar. Tucked into the slot in the wallet, was a picture of a young girl, one he saw a few weeks ago in ER. 

“... Ella.” 

Damien grunted behind him. “Who?” 

“This must be - her brother? Ella, the girl I lost a few weeks ago.” Anders removed the man’s belt and tied his hands behind him. Hands that had blood splattered on them. 

“Damien?” 

Anders hastily turned and saw Damien’s back against the bar’s wall, left hand on his right side. 

“Hey, Anders, do me a favor, and don’t… freak, alright?” 

“Damien,” Anders said again, not bothering to keep the panic from his voice. “What’s wrong?” 

“I think uh, Ella’s brother had knife.”


	5. Regrets and Recuperation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damien wakes up in a hospital bed yet again, but for the first time, has to face consequences for his actions.

Damien couldn’t remember much over the last few days. Truthfully, he only knew it had been a few days because the same nurses came in different colored scrubs. He thought that they were the same nurses, anyway. He remembered Anders calling an ambulance and applying pressure while they waited, and then getting rushed into the surgery room, but all in flashes. Now, it was the middle of the day, and he’d been in the room by himself with a dull pain in his right side for a few hours. 

He was pretty sure that some family had come by - Ezekiel, Carver, Amber, Alexis. It was nice of them to visit and he expected that they would, but oddly enough he hadn’t seen Anders at all. In the hospital that he brought him to and worked in. Anders hadn’t even responded to Damien’s texts. He pushed the home button on his screen. 12:49pm. He gazed at the background of him and Anders in the Hanged Man from last week. It did not make the fact that none of the new messages were from Anders hurt less.

A knock on the door brought him out of his reverie. He perked up, briefly, and saw Ezekiel standing in the frame. Damien’s shoulders sagged, just a little, as he waved his brother in. 

“Please, don’t jump up in joy or anything,” Ezekiel started, meandering into the room. He sank into the chair with a sigh, pressing his head into the wall as he sat. The light from the windows brought out the wrinkles growing on his face. He looked more tired than Damien remembered seeing him in a long time. 

“How are you doing, Zeke?” 

His brother chuckled. “You’re laying in bed from a stab wound, and you’re asking _me_ how I’m doing. I’m fine, bro. How are you?” 

“I’m fine. Relatively speaking,” Damien added, looking at his bed. Then, he stole a glance at his brother. “You know, I thought you’d be more pissed.” 

“Oh, I was,” Ezekiel interjected. “I almost tore that EMT’s head off. He did an adequate job keeping you stable till you got here.” Ezekiel peeked at Damien’s incredulous face and sighed. “Fine. He did a good job, in the moment. But he was as pissed as I was.” 

Damien nodded. “Makes sense. That guy coming out of nowhere, attacking us -” 

“No, Damien. We were pissed at you.”

Damien’s brow furrowed - partly in confusion, partly in pain from changing position. 

“What do you mean?” 

“You need to take better care of yourself. Damien, I’m not always going to be here to - to do this.” Ezekiel sighed as he rested his head in his hands. “All of this in and out of the hospital, getting into fights, being reckless… I just need you to… to take care of yourself a little more.” 

Damien was shaking his head before Ezekiel finished his sentence. “I’d never get you out of the hospital otherwise.”

There was a moment of silence, in which Damien hoped Ezekiel didn’t read into what he just said. 

Then Ezekiel laughed, light and maybe a little confused; Damien let out a breath. 

“What, uh… what do you mean by that?” 

“By… what?” 

“You’d ‘never get me out of the hospital’?” Ezekiel tone was a little more impatient now. 

“It’s just - you know!” Damien was scrambling. He couldn’t think of a lie quickly enough to soothe his brother’s growing impatience. He sighed, giving up on a lie. 

“It’s just easier to convince you to leave the hospital to care for a sibling than for yourself, you know?” 

Damien could practically hear the gears in Ezekiel’s skull in motion as his brother tried to piece this all together. 

“Are you saying you’ve been putting yourself in danger _on purpose_ to get me out of the hospital?” 

Ezekiel’s tone was incredulous, but every second it took Damien to answer, his brow got more furrowed, shoulders grew tenser. Damien tried for a sheepish expression, which seemed to just agitate Ezekiel more. Finally, Damien settled on a nod.

“Why?” 

It was a question, but not one Damien could squirm his way out of.

“I …,” Damien started, and cut himself off. Just that one syllable sounded so small. He did not like it. “You weren’t supposed to find out. I couldn’t get into med school to take over the hospital so I had to do - anything else to get you to take a break.” 

Ezekiel stood abruptly, disbelief coloring his face. Damien couldn’t make eye contact. 

“So let me get this straight: you decided that because you couldn’t get into med school - something no one has ever expected you to do, ever - you had to risk your life to get me to ‘take a break’? What would even give you that idea?” 

Damien looked away, twisting the bed cover in his hands. Ezekiel hovered over him, waiting not too patiently for an answer. 

“After I flunked out of university, I went out binge drinking with some classmates or something. You picked me up from the hospital and told me you’d been running around ragged for a week, sleeping in the break room, doing whatever Revka wanted. She let you go to get me from the hospital and you slept in your own bed for the first time in a week and it just - clicked. I just …” he trailed off, only picking back up after a pointed look from his brother. “I just didn’t think I could offer you anything else.” 

Ezekiel threw his hands up in frustration. “ _Offer_ me? Offer me… what the hell? This is ridiculous - you, you’re ridiculous.” He was pacing now, and Damien could hear his own heartbeat in his ears; Ezekiel’s never been this angry at him - 

“I just, I didn’t want you stuck in the hospital for the rest of your life like Revka! Ever since dad died - she basically lived in the hospital and I stopped seeing her. I didn’t want that to happen to you. This was all I could do to stop that from happening.” 

Ezekiel groaned loudly. “You don’t owe me anything - nevermind. This won’t matter soon. Revka is transferring me to another hospital in Ferelden. I’m leaving in a couple of weeks. So, you need to take better care of yourself. This,” he gestured at the hospital bed. “This can’t happen again.” 

Damien nodded briskly and his brother sighed and left the room. Damien sank under the covers, trying to ignore how empty the room felt now. 

\------

Damien blinked and tried to bring the room into focus. He must have fallen asleep at some point after Ezekiel left. It was dark now, Damien realized as he adjusted to the luminescent lights. Then he saw a scruffy Anders, in his scrubs, standing at the foot of Damien’s bed. It’s about time he stopped by. 

“Hey, Anders, what took so long?” Damien mumbled as he shifted to an upright position. 

Anders looked up from the clipboard, surprised. 

“Oh! I didn’t mean to wake you. I can come back later -” 

“No, you’re fine. Wasn’t sleeping well anyway.” 

“Oh. I see.” 

Anders didn’t move towards Damien at all; in fact, Anders seemed to fidget, shifting his balance from one foot to another. He looked everywhere in the room except for at Damien. The only sound between the two of them was breathing and Anders’s fingers drumming against the back of the clipboard. Then Anders bit his bottom lip. 

“Is… there something you wanna say?” Damien asked, growing more anxious with each passing awkward second. 

Anders made eye contact then, brows furrowed in concern. 

“Damien, we should talk.” 

Damien frowned before he could stop himself. Anders didn’t visit him for a week and he comes in, immediately asking to talk? Damien had heard of worse breakups, he supposed. But he didn’t want to have this conversation now.

“Not in the mood, Anders.” 

Anders protested, but Damien just tried to block him out. Dare he roll on his side? He shifted - 

“You can’t lay on your side. ‘Cause you got stabbed, Damien.” 

Damien groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position. 

“What do you want to say, Anders?” 

“Why did you push me out of the way?” Damien couldn’t read Anders well - his tone was stern and his face was impassive, but honestly, he just did not want to talk right now. 

Damien raised an eyebrow. “Would you rather be in this hospital bed?” 

“That’s not the point. You didn’t even hesitate. You just - threw yourself into danger.” 

“Hm. I remember throwing you out of danger.” 

Anders crossed his arms, unamused. Damien sighed. Anders was determined to be a pain in the ass right now.

“What did you want me to do? You’re the medic here. I wouldn’t know what to do if you got hurt. Plus, I’m _always_ getting hurt.” 

“Ezekiel told me you tried to get into medical school. That, coupled with the seemingly endless amount of injuries you’ve had just since I’ve known you, makes me feel like you would have been fine patching me up until the ambulance showed.” 

Damien rolled his eyes. Of course, Ezekiel told him. 

“I know you and Ezekiel are pissed at me. What do you want me to say? I don’t care about myself, I think you’re more important than I am. Whatever. What do you want?” 

Anders was quiet for a few seconds, scanning Damien’s face. 

“Are you… okay?” Anders’s tone was so gentle, it somehow frustrated Damien more. He wasn’t used to being treated like he was breakable and this wasn’t helping his mood. 

“I’m fine,” he replied curtly.

“You’re stable,” Anders corrected. “But you’re not fine.” 

He walked over and sat on the bed - the left side, of course. Avoiding his injured side.

“Talk to me,” he requested. 

Damien scoffed. “Why? Aren’t you just here to break up with me anyway?” 

Anders’s face fell. “What? No! Why - why would I, Damien? Do you want to break up?” 

Damien shook his head. “No, but you said ‘we need to talk’ all serious so I thought -” 

Anders snickered briefly, shaking his head. “No, Damien, I don’t want to break up with you.” 

“Okay, good. I don’t want to break up either.” 

Anders smiled softly and placed a hand on Damien’s leg. 

“So, talk to me.” 

Damien grimaced and sucked in a breath.

“Can we talk about it later? I’m … tired.” 

He suddenly understood the meaning of the word in a way he hadn’t before. “Tired.” He just wanted to rest, honestly; it’d been such a long time since he felt the weight of the scars and injuries he’d caused, for both himself and his brother. It probably was time he just took a break. 

Anders blinked, clearly surprised, but even more shocking, didn’t argue. 

“Hey, me too. Scoot over.” 

Damien did, and Anders laid in the bed next to him, on top of the covers. Damien leaned back, tempted to rest on Anders’s shoulder. But he didn’t yet. 

“What took you so long to visit me? It’s been a whole week.” 

“It’s been like three days, Damien,” Anders replied coolly, amusement coloring his voice. “I do have other people to look after.” 

“Oh. I don’t really have a good sense of time, in or out of the hospital.” 

Anders laughed. Damien smiled softly and laid his head on Anders’s shoulder then. Anders tensed a little but didn’t move. 

“I didn’t want you to get hurt, you know,” Damien explained, speaking more to the air than to Anders. “Back at the Hanged Man. That’s why I threw you. My dad died when I was little and I just can’t stand the idea of someone I care about in this bed. I didn’t even visit Alexis during her surgery.” Admittedly, he did regret not visiting her. 

Anders leaned his head on top of Damien’s. 

“How did your dad die?” 

Damien “hm”-ed in response. 

“You don’t have to tell me -” 

“Cancer.”

“Oh.” 

“That’s why Revka lives in the hospital. She thought if she’d worked one more day, if she’d had one more study group, she could have saved him. But she spent so much time working…” 

Damien trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. 

“She forgot to spend time with you,” Anders finished. 

“Hm. Yeah.” 

This was weird to Damien. Talking about this stuff. He usually just drank or fought about it when it got to him. Not a bad-weird, sure. But… unfamiliar. 

“I think he would have liked you - my dad. He would have wanted to meet you.” Damien stifled a yawn. 

“Yeah? You think so?” 

Damien could hear a smile in Anders’s voice and he couldn’t hold back one of his own. 

“Heh, yeah. You’re a good boyfriend.” 

Damien could hear Anders’s pulse speed up, but all Anders said was, “Alright, time for bed.” 

Damien chuckled and laid down next to Anders, feeling more relaxed than he had all day.

\------

Loud music knocked Damien out of sleep. He rubbed his eyes, slowly recognizing the ringtone: Claire’s. He pushed himself up and reached over for his phone, noting his hospital bed was now missing Anders. 

“Claire?” he said groggily. 

“DAMIEN!” she shouted back. He pulled the phone from his ear. 

“Why haven’t you responded to any of my texts!? Zeke told me you got _stabbed_ , Damien! Stabbed! I was so worried, I almost bombed my last exam! But I didn’t, so no worries,” she added haughtily. 

Damien chuckled. He could just picture her bright smile surrounded by long, dark curls. He didn’t realize how much he missed his little sister. 

“That’s good, Claire. How’re you doing?” 

“What? I’m fine, bro. Maker, you’re the one who with a stab wound! How are _you_ doing?” 

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” He stifled a yawn. 

“Oh, Maker, sorry. Forgot about the time difference. Anyway, who’d you get stabbed for? Zeke said it was some ‘pathetic EMT,’” she said, mimicking Ezekiel’s angry voice. 

“Hah! Claire, don’t make me laugh,” he groaned. “Yeah, he’s an EMT, but he’s not pathetic. I don’t think so, anyway.” 

“You _are_ dating him! I figured, Zeke wouldn’t answer any questions at all, he was so angry. I’m so glad you’re dating someone, bro! Tell me about him!” 

“Sure,” Damien answered, a smile on his face. “His name is Anders, and we met in this hospital, actually -” 

“Oh wait, tell me next week! Wait, did you say you met in a hospital? No, explain it next week!” she finally decided. “I’m coming for a visit!” 

“Not ‘cause you heard I got stabbed, right? ‘Cause I really am fine -” 

“No, no,” she interrupted. “Though, this is good timing. Zeke is having a going away party!”

“What?” 

“Yeah, mom’s sending him to a fancy Fereldan hospital for a bit. Just until I graduate and take over the hospital, you know? Didn’t he tell you?” 

No. Well, he didn’t mention the party, anyway. Damien tried to ignore the growing pit in his gut. 

“He didn’t. He’s… He’s really mad at me, Claire,” Damien admitted. 

“Oh.” was her response. For the first time since their call started, she seemed to pause. “Well, don’t beat yourself up about it. Just give him a day or two to cool off. I’m positive he wouldn’t go off to another country without saying goodbye first.” 

Damien sighed, leaning back onto his pillow. She was right. But he still didn’t like it. 

“So, you’re taking over Amell hospital, huh?” 

“Yeah! That’s the plan, anyway. Just like dad would have wanted, right?” 

Her tone was just a little wistful then, and he shared her pain. What would their dad think of him now? 

“Yeah. He’d be proud of you, little sis.” 

“Heh! Thanks, bro. Okay, I gotta go to class now. I’ll see you next week, okay? Tell me all about Anders then! Try not to get stabbed again, okay?” 

Damien laughed. “No promises.” 

“Ugh! Bye, Damien.” 

“See ya, Claire.” 

Damien hung up and finally read through the notifications. A missed call from Amber a few days ago, Alexis asking if he really got stabbed in all caps, 4 old missed calls from Ezekiel, and 8 texts from Claire over the last 3 days, explaining Ezekiel told her to give him a few days before calling but she just heard he was stabbed and wanted to know if he was okay. He felt a little bad for ignoring her texts. But he could apologize in person next week, if he could get an invite to Ezekiel’s party. 

\-------

A few days and three more family visits later, Damien got discharged. He was midway through changing when Anders rushed in, in scrubs and much scruffier than before. 

“Good, you’re still here.” His voice was curt and much too tight. 

“Maker, Anders,” Damien started, looking Anders over. “How long have you been here?” 

Anders opened his mouth, then paused to think. 

“Two days ago, maybe? Velanna caught me in bed with you and threatened to report me to Orsino under ‘patient abuse’ unless I took her weekend shift,” he groaned, rubbing his temples in small circles. “I just need to get through one more day. No, shirt off please.” 

Damien’s eyebrows shot up as he froze in between putting his shirt on. He grinned as Anders grimaced. 

“Wait, were you serious in the Hanged Man -” 

“No, no - you’re getting discharged, Damien, I need to show you how to wrap and clean your wound. Luckily, it’s shallow - you probably knocked him out before it cut you too deeply - so you’ll just need to be back in four days to get the stitches removed. Usually, I’d just give you a paper outlining how to clean it properly, but because I know you, I know you won’t read the paper.” 

Anders crossed his arms disdainfully as Damien flashed a sheepish grin. He tossed his shirt on the bed.

“Oh, c’mon, Doc, can’t you just… make a house call and wrap it for me?” 

Damien grinned wickedly and he knew it worked; Anders flushed and looked down at his clipboard. He closed the distance between them in two quick strides and pulled Anders closer to him by his scrubs' drawstrings. 

Anders swatted Damien’s hands lightly, but he didn’t let go. 

“EMTs don’t make house calls, Damien.” 

“Make an exception.” 

Damien leaned into Anders, going for a kiss - 

“Right, I would just _love_ to spend my day off from working in a hospital dressing your wound,” Anders replied sarcastically. 

Right. This is his job, no matter how much roleplay could be done from it. Damien took a step back and released Anders’s scrubs. 

“Right. Sorry.” 

Anders gave him a sympathetic look before grabbing the cloth and gauze. 

“Here, pay attention.” 

Anders cleaned Damien’s wound tenderly, making sure not to stretch the stitches and emphasized the importance of not stressing the wound. No extraneous movement so: no over-reaching or overextending, no heavy lifting, no alcohol (because of how often that leads to a fight). It needed to be cleaned daily and kept dry, blah, blah. Honestly, if it wasn’t Anders explaining it, Damien would have tuned out a long time ago. 

“Now, if you need help removing the bandage or redoing the stitches, I’ll gladly help with that,” Anders offered, but Damien shook his head. 

“Nah, I should be fine. What are the chances I’ll get in trouble in four days?” 

Especially since he’d pissed off Ezekiel so badly so quickly. Maybe if he kept out of trouble for a few days, Ezekiel would invite him to the going away party. 

“Hey. Sit down.” Anders’s voice was stern but not as tight as it was before. 

Damien sat, awaiting the EMT’s next instructions. Anders leaned in and kissed Damien quickly. He wouldn’t call that a “kiss,” really; a peck fitted better. 

Damien smirked. “Again?” 

Anders rolled his eyes but couldn’t hold back a blush or a smile. “Go home, Damien.” 

Damien stood up and, in one fluid movement, grabbed Anders’s face and kissed him deeper, releasing his lips only after Anders went for his sides. 

“Cheap move,” Damien tutted, and softly bit Anders’s bottom lip. Damien chuckled as Anders said his goodbyes and left the room. Damien threw on his shirt and called Carver to pick him up. 

\-----

The next morning, Damien changed his bandages the way Anders showed him, making sure to not stress the stitches, blah blah. It still stung a little, like a toddler saw two dozen needles in Damien’s side and decided that was the perfect spot to punch him repeatedly. He groaned a little as he wrapped his side up with new bandages. 

He winced as he pulled the bandaged off. Getting stabbed hurts like hell. But he wished he had the guts to call Ezekiel and - he wasn’t sure. Apologize? Swear he can take care of himself while Ezekiel’s in Fereldan? Not that Ezekiel would believe him anyway. 

He meandered back into his room just as his cell phone rang. A very familiar tone. He crossed the room in two strides and scooped up his phone: the ID said Zeke. He answered it. 

“Ezekiel?” 

“Ooh, ‘Ezekiel,’” an unknown voice drawled on the other end. “You really are fighting.” 

Damien’s brows furrowed in confusion. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out at first. 

“Cat got your tongue?” Amusement colored the mystery voice now.

“Who is this?” he finally decided on. 

“This is Damien, right?” the voice went on, ignoring his question and, not waiting for an answer, continued, “Ezekiel is having a going away party in a few days and would love it if you could come. He refused to call you himself, but he just feels _terrible_ about the way he acted in the hospital and was too embarrassed to call. But I know he’d regret it if he didn’t invite you. The trip to Ferelden is so long, and he’ll be away for oh so many years.” 

A pang of sadness spiked at the reminder. Then a flare of annoyance.

“Who is this?” he repeated, not caring enough to mask the agitation in his voice.

“So, be at his place on Friday around 4pm to say your goodbyes,” she said, as if he hadn’t said anything at all. “You should be all healed up from your wound by then right?” 

He could hear a smirk in her voice at that and he felt even more irritated. Who the hell would Ezekiel tell that Damien was hurt? Well, there aren’t too many options, outside of family and their mutual friends - 

“Damien, are you coming to your brother’s party?” she asked. She sounded like she was talking to a child and he did not like it. But now he knew who it was.

“Yes, Morrigan. I’ll be there.” 

“Oh, you figured it out! I knew you were smart,” she mused in a tone that made him think she did not actually think he was smart. “You can bring your EMT friend as well. The more the merrier right? See you this Friday.” 

And then she hung up. Damien threw his phone onto his bed in anger. He did not like Ezekiel’s girlfriend.


End file.
